Luke 14

Listen to Luke 14

Healing of a Man on the Sabbath

1 One Sabbath, 1when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were 2watching him carefully.
2 And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy.
3 And Jesus responded to 3the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, 4"Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?"
4 But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away.
5 And he said to them, 5"Which of you, having a son[a] or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?"
6 6And they could not reply to these things.

The Parable of the Wedding Feast

7 Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed 7how they chose the places of honor, saying to them,
8 "When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him,
9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, 'Give your place to this person,' and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place.
10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, 8so that when your host comes he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you.
11 For 9everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

The Parable of the Great Banquet

12 He said also to the man who had invited him, "When you give 10a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers[b] or your relatives or rich neighbors, 11lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.
13 But when you give a feast, 12invite 13the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,
14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid 14at 15the resurrection of the just."
15 When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, 16"Blessed is everyone who will 17eat bread in the kingdom of God!"
16 But he said to him, 18"A man once 19gave a great banquet and invited many.
17 And at the time for the banquet he 20sent his servant[c] to say to those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.'
18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, 'I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.'
19 And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.'
20 And another said, 21'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'
21 So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, 'Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in 22the poor and crippled and blind and lame.'
22 And the servant said, 'Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.'
23 And the master said to the servant, 'Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.
24 For I tell you,[d]23none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.'"

The Cost of Discipleship

25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them,
26 24"If anyone comes to me and 25does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, 26yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
27 27Whoever does not 28bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not 29first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?
29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,
30 saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'
31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not 30sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.
33 31So therefore, any one of you who 32does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Salt Without Taste Is Worthless

34 33"Salt is good, 34but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?
35 It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. 35He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Images for Luke 14

Cross References 35

  • 1. Luke 7:36; Luke 11:37
  • 2. Luke 20:20; Mark 3:2
  • 3. See Luke 7:30
  • 4. Luke 13:14; Matthew 12:10
  • 5. Luke 13:15; [Deuteronomy 22:4; Matthew 12:11]
  • 6. [Matthew 22:46]
  • 7. See Luke 11:43
  • 8. Proverbs 25:6, 7
  • 9. Luke 18:14; [Proverbs 29:23; Ezekiel 21:26; Matthew 18:4; James 4:6, 10; 1 Peter 5:5, 6]
  • 10. John 21:12(Gk.)
  • 11. [Luke 6:34]
  • 12. [Nehemiah 8:10, 12; Esther 9:22]
  • 13. ver. 21
  • 14. 1 Corinthians 15:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; [John 11:24; Revelation 20:4, 5]
  • 15. Acts 24:15
  • 16. Revelation 19:9
  • 17. [Luke 13:29; Luke 22:16, 30]
  • 18. For ver. 16-24, [Matthew 22:2-14]
  • 19. [Isaiah 25:6]
  • 20. [Esther 6:14; Proverbs 9:3, 5]
  • 21. Deuteronomy 24:5
  • 22. ver. 13
  • 23. Matthew 21:43; Acts 13:46
  • 24. ver. 33; Matthew 10:37; [Deuteronomy 33:9]
  • 25. Luke 16:13
  • 26. John 12:25; Acts 20:24; Revelation 12:11
  • 27. Luke 9:23; Matthew 10:38; Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34
  • 28. John 19:17
  • 29. [Proverbs 24:27]
  • 30. ver. 28
  • 31. [Philippians 3:7]
  • 32. [ver. 26; Luke 18:28]
  • 33. Mark 9:50
  • 34. Matthew 5:13
  • 35. See Matthew 11:15

Footnotes 4

  • [a]. Some manuscripts a donkey
  • [b]. Or your brothers and sisters. The plural Greek word adelphoi (translated "brothers") refers to siblings in a family. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, adelphoi may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters
  • [c]. Greek bondservant; also verses 21, 22, 23
  • [d]. The Greek word for you here is plural

Luke 14 Commentaries

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.