Matthew 22:28

King James Version

Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
But all seven men had married her. So when people rise from death, whose wife will she be?"

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Now in the resurreccion whose wyfe shall she be of the seven? For all had her.

International Standard Version
Now in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be, since all of them had marriedmarried">[fn] her?"

New American Standard Bible
"In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her in marriage."

New Century Version
Since all seven men had married her, when people rise from the dead, whose wife will she be?"

Update Bible Version
In the resurrection therefore whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.

Webster's Bible Translation
Therefore in the resurrection, whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.

Amplified Bible
"So in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her."

English Standard Version
In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her."

World English Bible
In the resurrection therefore, whose wife will she be of the seven? For they all had her."

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
For they all had her. Jesus answering said to them, Ye err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.

Weymouth's New Testament
At the Resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? for they all married her."

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Also in the risyng ayen to lijf, whos wijf of the seuene schal sche be? for alle hadden hir.

English Revised Version
In the resurrection therefore whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.

Berean Standard Bible
In the resurrection, then, whose wife will she be of the seven? For all of them were married to her."

Contemporary English Version
When God raises people from death, whose wife will this woman be? She had been married to all seven brothers.

American Standard Version
In the resurrection therefore whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.

Bible in Basic English
When they come back from the dead, then, whose wife will she be of the seven? because they all had her.

Complete Jewish Bible
Now in the Resurrection — of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all married her."

Darby Translation
In the resurrection therefore of which of the seven shall she be wife, for all had her?

Etheridge Translation
In the resurrection, therefore, of whom from these seven shall she be the wife ? for all had taken her.

Murdock Translation
In the resurrection, therefore, to which of those seven will she be the wife? For they all had taken her?

King James Version (1611)
Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife shall she be of the seuen? for they all had her.

New Living Translation
So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her."

New Life Bible
When people are raised from the dead, whose wife will she be of the seven? They all had her for a wife."

New Revised Standard
In the resurrection, then, whose wife of the seven will she be? For all of them had married her."

Geneva Bible (1587)
Therefore in the resurrection, whose wife shall she be of the seuen? for all had her.

George Lamsa Translation
Therefore at the resurrection, to which of these seven will she be a wife? for they all married her.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
In the resurrection, therefore, - Of which of the seven, shall she be wife? For, all, had her.

Douay-Rheims Bible
At the resurrection therefore, whose wife of the seven shall she be? For they all had her.

Revised Standard Version
In the resurrection, therefore, to which of the seven will she be wife? For they all had her."

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Therfore, in the resurrection, whose wyfe shall she be of the seuen? For they all had her.

Good News Translation
Now, on the day when the dead rise to life, whose wife will she be? All of them had married her."

Christian Standard Bible®
In the resurrection, then, whose wife will she be of the seven? For they all had married her.”

Hebrew Names Version
In the resurrection therefore, whose wife will she be of the seven? For they all had her."

Lexham English Bible
In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her as wife."

Literal Translation
Then in the resurrection, of which of the seven will she be wife? For all had her.

Young's Literal Translation
therefore in the rising again, of which of the seven shall she be wife -- for all had her?'

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Now in the resurreccion, whose wife shal she be of the seuen? For they all had her.

Mace New Testament (1729)
now if there be another life after this, whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all married her.

New English Translation
In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her."

New King James Version
Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her."

Simplified Cowboy Version
who would be married to her in heaven since she was married to all of 'em?"

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her."

Legacy Standard Bible
In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her."

Contextual Overview

²³ The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him, ²⁴ Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. ²⁵ Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: ²⁶ Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. ²⁷ And last of all the woman died also. ²⁸ Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her. ²⁹ Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. ³⁰ For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. ³¹ But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, ³² I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Therefore in the resurrection,.... As asserted by the Pharisees and by Christ, supposing that there will be such a thing, though not granting it; for these men denied it, wherefore the Ethiopic version reads it hypothetically, "if therefore the dead will be raised"; upon such a supposition,

whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her, or were married to her. By putting this question, they thought to have got some advantage against Christ, and in favour of their notion; they hoped, either that he would give into their way of thinking, and relinquish the doctrine of the resurrection upon this, and join with them against the Pharisees, and so there would be no need of an answer to the question; or they judged, that if he returned an answer, it would be either that he did not know whose wife she should be, and then they would traduce him among the common people, as weak and ignorant; or should he say, that she would be the wife of one of them only, naming which of them, or of them all, or of none of them, they fancied that such absurd consequences would follow on each of these, as would expose the doctrine of the resurrection to ridicule and contempt; but they missed their aim, and were sadly disappointed by Christ's answer and reasonings which follow.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Conversation of Jesus with the Sadducees respecting the resurrection - See also Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-38.

Matthew 22:23

The same day came the Sadducees - For an account of the Sadducees, see the notes at Matthew 3:7.

No resurrection - The word “resurrection” usually means the raising up the “body” to life after it is dead, John 11:24; John 5:29; 1 Corinthians 15:22. But the Sadducees not only denied this, but also a future state, and the separate existence of the soul after death altogether, as well as the existence of angels and spirits, Acts 23:8. Both these doctrines have commonly stood or fallen together, and the answer of our Saviour respects both, though it more distinctly refers “to the separate existence of the soul, and to a future state of rewards and punishments,” than to the resurrection of the body.

Matthew 22:24

Saying, Master, Moses said ... - Deuteronomy 25:5-6. This law was given by Moses in order to keep the families and tribes of the Israelites distinct, and to perpetuate them.

Raise up seed unto his brother - That is, the children shall be reckoned in the genealogy of the deceased brother; or, to all civil purposes, shall be considered as his.

Matthew 22:25-28

There were with us seven brethren - It is probable that they stated a case as difficult as possible; and though no such case might have occurred, yet it was supposable, and in their view it presented a real difficulty.

The difficulty arose from the fact, that they supposed that, substantially, the same state of things must take place in the other world as here; that if there is such a world, husbands and wives must be there reunited; and they professed not to be able to see how one woman could be the wife of seven men.

Matthew 22:29

Ye do err, not knowing ... - They had taken a wrong view of the doctrine of the resurrection.

It was not taught that people would marry there. The “Scriptures,” here, mean the books of the Old Testament. By appealing to them, Jesus showed that the doctrine of the future state was there, and that the Sadducees should have believed it as it was, and not have added the absurd doctrine to it that people must live there as they do here. The way in which the enemies of the truth often attempt to make a doctrine of the Bible ridiculous is by adding to it, and then calling it absurd. The reason why the Saviour produced a passage from the books of Moses Matthew 22:32 was that they had also appealed to his writings, Matthew 22:24. Other places of the Old Testament, in fact, asserted the doctrine more clearly Daniel 12:2; Isaiah 26:19, but he wished to meet them on their own ground. None of those scriptures asserted that people would live there as they do here, and therefore their reasoning was false.

Nor the power of God - They probably denied, as many have done since, that God could gather the scattered dust of the dead and remould it into a body. On this ground they affirmed that the doctrine could not be true - opposing reason to revelation, and supposing that infinite power could not reorganize a body that it had at first organized, and raise a body from its own dust which it had at first raised from nothing.

Matthew 22:30

Neither marry ... - This was a full answer to the objections of the Sadducees.

But are as the angels of God - That is, in the manner of their conversation; in regard to marriage and the mode of their existence.

Luke adds that they shall be “equal with the angels.” That is, they shall be elevated above the circumstances of mortality, and live in a manner and in a kind of conversation similar to that of the angels. It does not imply that they shall be equal in intellect, but only “in the circumstances of their existence,” as that is distinguished from the way in which mortals live. He also adds, “Neither do they die any more, but are the children of God; being the children of the resurrection,” or being accounted worthy to be raised up to life, and therefore “sons of God raised up to him.”

Matthew 22:31, Matthew 22:32

As touching ... - That is, in proof that the dead are raised.

The passage which he quotes is recorded in Exodus 3:6, Exodus 3:15, This was at the burning bush (Mark and Luke). Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been dead for a long time when Moses spoke this - Abraham for 329 years, Isaac for 224 years, and Jacob for 198 years - yet God spake then as being still “their God.” They must, therefore, be still somewhere living, for God is not the God of the dead; that is, it is absurd to say that God rules over those who are “extinct or annihilated,” but he is the God only of those who have an existence. Luke adds, “all live unto him.” That is, all the righteous dead, all of whom he can be properly called their God, live unto his glory. This passage does not prove directly that the dead “body” would be raised, but only by consequence. It proves that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had an existence then, or that their souls were alive. This the Sadducees denied Acts 23:8, and this was the main point in dispute. If this was admitted - if there was a state of rewards and punishments - then it would easily follow that the bodies of the dead would be raised.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Matthew 22:28. Whose wife shall she be of the seven? — The rabbins have said, That if a woman have two husbands in this world, she shall have the first only restored to her in the world to come. Sohar. Genes. fol. 24. The question put by these bad men is well suited to the mouth of a libertine. Those who live without God in the world have no other god than the world; and those who have not that happiness which comes from the enjoyment of God have no other pleasure than that which comes from the gratification of sensual appetites. The stream cannot rise higher than the spring: these men, and their younger brethren, atheists, deists, and libertines of all sorts, can form no idea of heaven as a place of blessedness, unless they can hope to find in it the gratification of their sensual desires. On this very ground Mohammed built his paradise.