Luke 14:12-35

The Parable of the Great Banquet

12 He said also to the man who had invited him, "When you give ¹a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers^[a] or your relatives or rich neighbors, ²lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.

13 But when you give a feast, ³invite ⁴the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,

14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid ⁵at ⁶the resurrection of the just."

15 When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, ⁷"Blessed is everyone who will ⁸eat bread in the kingdom of God!"

16 But he said to him, ⁹"A man once ¹⁰gave a great banquet and invited many.

17 And at the time for the banquet he ¹¹sent 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, ¹²'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 ¹³the 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]14none 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 ¹⁵"If anyone comes to me and ¹⁶does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, ¹⁷yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

27 ¹⁸Whoever does not ¹⁹bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not ²⁰first 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 ²¹sit 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 ²²So therefore, any one of you who ²³does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Salt Without Taste Is Worthless

34 ²⁴"Salt is good, ²⁵but 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. ²⁶He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Cross References

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

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