Luke 14:12-24

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] 14}none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet. ’”

Cross References

• 1. 14:12 John 21:12 (Gk.)
• 2. 14:12 [ch. 6:34]
• 3. 14:13 [Neh. 8:10, 12; Esth. 9:22]
• 4. 14:13 ver. 21
• 5. 14:14 1 Cor. 15:23; 1 Thess. 4:16; [John 11:24; Rev. 20:4, 5]
• 6. 14:14 Acts 24:15
• 7. 14:15 Rev. 19:9
• 8. 14:15 [ch. 13:29; 22:16, 30]
• 9. 14:16 For ver. 16-24, [Matt. 22:2-14]
• 10. 14:16 [Isa. 25:6]
• 11. 14:17 [Esth. 6:14; Prov. 9:3, 5]
• 12. 14:20 Deut. 24:5
• 13. 14:21 ver. 13
• 14. 14:24 Matt. 21:43; Acts 13:46

Footnotes

• [a] 14:12 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] 14:17 Greek 'bondservant'; also verses 21, 22, 23
• [c] 14:24 The Greek word for 'you' here is plural