Luke 14:7-24

The Parable of the Wedding Feast

7 Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed ¹how 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, ²so 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 ³everyone 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 ⁴a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers^[a] or your relatives or rich neighbors, ⁵lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.

13 But when you give a feast, ⁶invite ⁷the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,

14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid ⁸at ⁹the resurrection of the just."

15 When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, ¹⁰"Blessed is everyone who will ¹¹eat bread in the kingdom of God!"

16 But he said to him, ¹²"A man once ¹³gave a great banquet and invited many.

17 And at the time for the banquet he ¹⁴sent his servant^[b] 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, ¹⁵'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 ¹⁶the 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,^[c]17none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.'"

Cross References

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

Footnotes

• [a]. 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
• [b]. Greek bondservant; also verses 21, 22, 23
• [c]. The Greek word for you here is plural