Matthew 25, the twenty-fifth chapter of the

Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and for ...

, continues the Olivet Discourse or "Little Apocalypse" spoken by

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...

, also described as the Eschatological Discourse, which had started in

chapter 24 "Chapter 24" is a song from Pink Floyd's 1967 album ''The Piper at the Gates of Dawn''. This song was one of several to be considered for the band's "best of" album, ''Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd''. It was the second song recorded for the album ...

.Carr, A.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges: Matthew 24
accessed 10 October 2019 American theologian Jason Hood, writing in the ''

Journal of Biblical Literature The ''Journal of Biblical Literature'' (''JBL'') is one of three academic journals published by the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). First published in 1881, ''JBL'' is the flagship journal of the field. ''JBL'' is published quarterly and inc ...

'', argues that chapters 23 to 25 of the Gospel of Matthew form the fifth and final

discourse Discourse is a generalization of the notion of a conversation to any form of communication. Discourse is a major topic in social theory, with work spanning fields such as sociology, anthropology, continental philosophy, and discourse analysis. ...

in the gospel. In his reading, these three chapters together "uniquely infuse Jesus' distinctive teaching on discipleship,

Christology In Christianity, Christology (from the Ancient Greek, Greek grc, Χριστός, Khristós, label=none and grc, wiktionary:-λογία, -λογία, wiktionary:-logia, -logia, label=none), translated literally from Greek as "the study of Chr ...

, and judgment with the dramatic tension running throughout Matthew's plot".

Text

Papyrus 35 - Laurentian Library, PSI 1 - Matthew 25,12-15

The original text was written in

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

. This chapter is

divided Division is one of the four basic operations of arithmetic, the ways that numbers are combined to make new numbers. The other operations are addition, subtraction, and multiplication. At an elementary level the division of two natural numb ...

into 46 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: *

Papyrus 45 Papyrus 45 (''P. Chester Beatty'' I), designated by scribal abbreviation, siglum (in the Biblical manuscript#Gregory-Aland, Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is an early Greek New Testament manuscript written on papyrus, an ...

(~AD 250; extant verses 41–46) *

Papyrus 35 Papyrus 35 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), designated by 𝔓35, is an early copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of Matthew, it contains only Matthew 25:12-15.20-23. The manuscript paleographically has ...

(3rd/4th century; extant verses 12–15, 20–23) *

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(325–350) *

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus (Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts) ...

(330–360) *

Codex Bezae The Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis, designated by siglum D or 05 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 5 (in the von Soden of New Testament manuscript), is a codex of the New Testament dating from the 5th century writ ...

(~400) *

Codex Washingtonianus The Codex Washingtonianus or Codex Washingtonensis, designated by W or 032 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 014 ( Soden), also called the ''Washington Manuscript of the Gospels'', and ''The Freer Gospel'', contains the four biblical gospels an ...

(~400) *

Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus The Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (Paris, National Library of France, Greek 9) designated by the siglum C or 04 {in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 3 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a ma ...

(~450) *

Codex Purpureus Rossanensis The Rossano Gospels, designated by 042 or Σ (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 18 ( Soden), held at the cathedral of Rossano in Italy, is a 6th-century illuminated manuscript Gospel Book written following the reconquest of the Italian penins ...

(6th century) *

Codex Petropolitanus Purpureus Codex Petropolitanus Purpureus, designated by N or 022 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 19 ( Soden), is a Greek New Testament codex containing the four Gospels. It has been paleographically dated to the 6th century. Codex Petropolitanus Pu ...

(6th century; extant verses 7–34) *

Codex Sinopensis The Sinope Gospels, designated by O or 023 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 21 ( Soden), also known as the Codex Sinopensis, is a fragment of a 6th-century illuminated Greek Gospel Book. Along with the Rossano Gospels, the Sinope Gospels has ...

(6th century; extant verses 1–18) *

Papyrus 44 Papyrus 44 (in Gregory-Aland numbering), signed by 𝔓44, is an early copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of Matthew and Gospel of John. It contains Matt. 17:1-3.6-7; 18:15-17.19; 25:8-10 and John 10:8-14 ...

(6th/7th century; extant verses 8–10) It is also found in quotations from

Irenaeus Irenaeus (; grc-gre, Εἰρηναῖος ''Eirēnaios''; c. 130 – c. 202 AD) was a Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the dev ...

(AD 180) in ''

Adversus Haereses ''Adversus Haereses'' is the commonly used Latin title for a book by the Church Father Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyon in Gaul (now France). It is also often cited as ''Against Heresies'' or ''On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis''. It ...

''.

Content

This chapter includes the

parable A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, w ...

of the ten virgins (verses 1-13) and the parable of the talents or minas (verses 14-30), both unique to Matthew,Alford, H. (1841-61)
Greek Testament Critical Exegetical Commentary - Alford: Matthew 25
accessed 21 March 2021 followed by notice of "the great and universal judgment at the end of this period", with its parabolic references to a separation of peoples "as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats" (verse 32). The final section (verses 31-46) is sometimes referred to as the "parable of the sheep and the goats".

Verse 14

:''Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them.'' This verse begins a new parable, that of the talents or minas. There is no reference to the "

kingdom of heaven Kingdom of Heaven may refer to: Religious * Kingdom of Heaven (Gospel of Matthew) **Kingship and kingdom of God, or simply Kingdom of God, the phrase used in the other gospels * Kingdom of Heaven (Daviesite), a schismatic sect, founded by Will ...

" in this verse or in the parable, but the words, which mirror verse 1, are added in the

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

and some other English translations "for the sake of grammatical completeness".

Uses

Music

"Matthew 25:21" is a song title inspired by this verse on the album ''

The Life of the World to Come ''The Life of the World to Come'' (2004) is a science fiction novel by American writer Kage Baker, the fifth installment in the time travel series concerning the exploits of The Company. Plot introduction This novel is another chapter in the di ...

'' that was released by the American band

The Mountain Goats The Mountain Goats are an American band formed in Claremont, California, by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. The band is currently based in Durham, North Carolina. For many years, the sole member of the Mountain Goats was Darnielle, despite the ...

in 2009.

References

External links

* King James Bible - Wikisource
English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
Multiple bible versions at ''Bible Gateway''
(NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.) {{Gospel of Matthew Gospel of Matthew chapters