Luke 14:7-24

Parable of the Guests

7 And He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how ¹they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them,

8 "When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, ²do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him,

9 and he who invited you both * will come and say to you, 'Give your place to this man,' and then ³in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place.

10 "But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, ⁴move up higher '; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you.

11 "⁵For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

12 And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment.

13 "But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,

14 and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at ⁶the resurrection of the righteous."

15 When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, "⁷Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!"

Parable of the Dinner

16 But He said to him, "⁸A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many;

17 and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, 'Come; for everything is ready now.'

18 "But they all alike * began to make excuses. The first one said to him, 'I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.'

19 "Another one said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.'

20 "Another one said, '⁹I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot * come.'

21 "And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, 'Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.'

22 "And the slave said, 'Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.'

23 "And the master said to the slave, 'Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.

24 'For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.' "

Cross References

• 1. Matthew 23:6
• 2. Proverbs 25:6, 7
• 3. Luke 3:8
• 4. Proverbs 25:6, 7
• 5. 2 Samuel 22:28; Proverbs 29:23; Matthew 23:12; Luke 1:52; Luke 18:14; James 4:10
• 6. John 5:29; Acts 24:15; Revelation 20:4, 5
• 7. Revelation 19:9
• 8. Matthew 22:2-14; Luke 14:16-24
• 9. Deuteronomy 24:5; 1 Corinthians 7:33

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "recline at"
• [b]. Lit "begin"
• [c]. Lit "recline" at the table
• [d]. Or "banquet"
• [e]. Or "are unable to"
• [f]. Or "field"
• [g]. Lit "I request you"
• [h]. Lit "I request you"