Matthew 22:4

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

Again he sent other slaves, saying,‘Tell those who have been invited,“Look! The feast I have prepared for you is ready. My oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.”’

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

Πάλιν, ἀπέστειλεν ἄλλους δούλους, λέγων, Εἴπατε τοῖς κεκλημένοις, Ἰδού, τὸ ἄριστόν μου ἡτοίμασα: οἱ ταῦροί μου καὶ τὰ σιτιστὰ τεθυμένα, καὶ πάντα ἕτοιμα: δεῦτε εἰς τοὺς γάμους.

Transliteration

Palin, apesteilen allous doulous, legōn, Eipate to the keklēmenois, Idou, the ariston of me I have hētoimasa: the tauroi of me and the sitista tethumena, and panta hetoima: deute to the gamous.

Grammar Details

• *Palin*: adverb - again/once more
• *apesteilen*: aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular - sent out/dispatched
• *allous*: accusative, masculine, plural - other/different
• *doulous*: accusative, masculine, plural - slaves/servants
• *legōn*: present active participle, nominative, masculine, singular - saying
• *Eipate*: aorist active imperative, 2nd person plural - say/tell
• *keklēmenois*: perfect passive participle, dative, masculine, plural - to those having been called/invited
• *Idou*: aorist middle imperative, 2nd person singular - behold/look/see
• *ariston*: accusative, neuter, singular - meal/dinner/feast
• *hētoimasa*: aorist active indicative, 1st person singular - I prepared/made ready
• *tauroi*: nominative, masculine, plural - bulls/oxen
• *sitista*: nominative, neuter, plural - fattened animals/fatlings
• *tethumena*: perfect passive participle, nominative, neuter, plural - having been slaughtered/sacrificed
• *panta*: nominative, neuter, plural - all things
• *hetoima*: nominative, neuter, plural - ready/prepared
• *deute*: adverb used as imperative - come!/come here!
• *gamous*: accusative, masculine, plural - wedding feasts/marriages

Word Meanings

• *ariston*: dinner/feast/banquet/meal
• *tauroi*: bulls/oxen
• *sitista*: fattened animals/fatlings/grain-fed animals
• *tethumena*: having been slaughtered/sacrificed/killed
• *deute*: come!/come here!/come now!

Referenced Verses

• Matt 21:36 : 36 Again he sent other slaves, more than the first, and they treated them the same way.
• Matt 22:8 : 8 Then he said to his slaves,‘The wedding is ready, but the ones who had been invited were not worthy.
• Luke 10:1-9 : 1 The Mission of the Seventy-Two After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him two by two into every town and place where he himself was about to go. 2 He said to them,“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs surrounded by wolves. 4 Do not carry a money bag, a traveler’s bag, or sandals, and greet no one on the road. 5 Whenever you enter a house, first say,‘May peace be on this house!’ 6 And if a peace-loving person is there, your peace will remain on him, but if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay in that same house, eating and drinking what they give you, for the worker deserves his pay. Do not move around from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and the people welcome you, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick in that town and say to them,‘The kingdom of God has come upon you!’ 10 But whenever you enter a town and the people do not welcome you, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this: The kingdom of God has come.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town! 13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you! 15 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be thrown down to Hades! 16 “The one who listens to you listens to me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
• Luke 14:17 : 17 At the time for the banquet he sent his slave to tell those who had been invited,‘Come, because everything is now ready.’
• Luke 24:46-47 : 46 and said to them,“Thus it stands written that the Christ would suffer and would rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
• John 6:50-57 : 50 This is the bread that has come down from heaven, so that a person may eat from it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats from this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 52 Then the Jews who were hostile to Jesus began to argue with one another,“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 Jesus said to them,“I tell you the solemn truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood resides in me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so the one who consumes me will live because of me.
• Acts 1:8 : 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.”
• Acts 11:19-20 : 19 Activity in the Church at Antioch Now those who had been scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the message to no one but Jews. 20 But there were some men from Cyprus and Cyrene among them who came to Antioch and began to speak to the Greeks too, proclaiming the good news of the Lord Jesus.
• Acts 13:46 : 46 Both Paul and Barnabas replied courageously,“It was necessary to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we are turning to the Gentiles.
• Acts 28:17-31 : 17 Paul Addresses the Jewish Community in Rome After three days Paul called the local Jewish leaders together. When they had assembled, he said to them,“Brothers, although I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, from Jerusalem I was handed over as a prisoner to the Romans. 18 When they had heard my case, they wanted to release me, because there was no basis for a death sentence against me. 19 But when the Jews objected, I was forced to appeal to Caesar– not that I had some charge to bring against my own people. 20 So for this reason I have asked to see you and speak with you, for I am bound with this chain because of the hope of Israel.” 21 They replied,“We have received no letters from Judea about you, nor have any of the brothers come from there and reported or said anything bad about you. 22 But we would like to hear from you what you think, for regarding this sect we know that people everywhere speak against it.” 23 They set a day to meet with him, and they came to him where he was staying in even greater numbers. From morning until evening he explained things to them, testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets. 24 Some were convinced by what he said, but others refused to believe. 25 So they began to leave, unable to agree among themselves, after Paul made one last statement:“The Holy Spirit spoke rightly to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah 26 when he said,‘Go to this people and say,“You will keep on hearing, but will never understand, and you will keep on looking, but will never perceive. 27 For the heart of this people has become dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have closed their eyes, so that they would not see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.”’ 28 “Therefore be advised that this salvation from God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen!” 30 Paul lived there two whole years in his own rented quarters and welcomed all who came to him, 31 proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with complete boldness and without restriction.
• Rom 8:32 : 32 Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all– how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things?
• 1 Cor 5:7-8 : 7 Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch of dough– you are, in fact, without yeast. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 So then, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of vice and evil, but with the bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.
• Neh 9:17 : 17 They refused to obey and did not recall your miracles that you had performed among them. Instead, they rebelled and appointed a leader to return to their bondage in Egypt. But you are a God of forgiveness, merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and unfailing in your loyal love. You did not abandon them,
• Ps 86:5 : 5 Certainly O Lord, you are kind and forgiving, and show great faithfulness to all who cry out to you.
• Prov 9:1-2 : 1 The Consequences of Accepting Wisdom or Folly Wisdom has built her house; she has carved out its seven pillars. 2 She has prepared her meat, she has mixed her wine; she also has arranged her table.
• Song 5:1 : 1 The Lover to His Beloved: I have entered my garden, O my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my balsam spice. I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk!The Poet to the Couple: Eat, friends, and drink! Drink freely, O lovers!