Bible Strands
Matthew 22:9
Go therefore to the crossroads and invite to the banquet as many as you can find.’
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jesus commands his servants to go to the crossroads and invite as many as they can find, immediately after the originally invited guests prove unworthy. This directive occurs at the moment the banquet must be filled by alternative means.
The words — πορεύεσθε (poreuesthe) is an imperative meaning "do go," and διέξοδοι τῶν ὁδῶν (diexodoi tōn hodōn) literally denotes the "thoroughfares of the highways" where travelers cross paths.
The thread — The text records the servants' subsequent obedience in gathering both evil and good guests, a pattern echoed in the servant's report in Luke 14:21 and the universal scope of Mark 16:15. Proverbs 1:20 similarly places a divine summons in public thoroughfares, matching the verse's geographic focus.
Why it lands — The text explicitly orders immediate, unselective outreach to anyone encountered at the crossroads. It requires the reader to execute the summons without delay or preference, recognizing that the invitation's scope exceeds initial boundaries.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
Cross-references
- Luke 14:21 The servant returned and reported all this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’
- Mark 16:15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
- Proverbs 1:20 Wisdom calls out in the street, she lifts her voice in the square;
- Proverbs 8:1 Does not wisdom call out, and understanding raise her voice?
- Proverbs 9:4 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” she says to him who lacks judgment.
- Isaiah 55:1 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost!
- Isaiah 55:6 Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.
- Ezekiel 21:21 For the king of Babylon stands at the fork in the road, at the junction of the two roads, to seek an omen: He shakes the arrows, he consults the idols, he examines the liver.
- Luke 24:47 and in His name repentance and forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.
- Acts 13:47 For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”