14:1 It happened that when He went into the house of one of the ①leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching Him ②closely.
▷ ①I.e., members of the Sanhedrin ②Or maliciously
14:2 And ①there in front of Him was a man suffering from ②edema.
▷ ①Lit behold ②I.e., extreme swelling
14:3 And Jesus responded and said to the ①lawyers and ②Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?”
▷ ①I.e., experts in Mosaic Law ②Lit Pharisees, saying
14:4 But they kept silent. And He took hold of him and healed him, and sent him away.
14:5 And He said to them, “ ①Which one of you will have a son or an ox fall into a well, and will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?”
▷ ①Lit Whose son of you...will fall
14:6 And they could offer no reply to this.
14:7 Now He began telling a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them,
14:8 “Whenever you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not ①take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him,
▷ ①Lit recline at
14:9 and the one who invited you ①both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then in disgrace you will proceed to occupy the last place.
▷ ①Lit and him
14:10 But whenever you are invited, go and ①take the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are ②dining at the table with you.
▷ ①Lit recline at ②Lit reclining
14:11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
14:12 Now He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “Whenever you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor wealthy neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you to a meal in return, and that will be your ①repayment.
▷ ①Or reward
14:13 But whenever you give a ①banquet, invite people who are poor, who have disabilities, who are limping, and people who are blind;
▷ ①Or reception
14:14 and you will be blessed, since they ①do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
▷ ①Or are unable to
14:15 Now when one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”
14:16 But He said to him, “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many;
14:17 and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, because everything is ready now.’
14:18 And yet they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I purchased a field and I need to go out to look at it; ①please consider me excused.’
▷ ①Lit I request of you
14:19 And another one said, ‘I bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; ①please consider me excused.’
▷ ①Lit I request of you
14:20 And another one said, ‘I took a woman as my wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’
14:21 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 those who are poor, those with disabilities, those who are blind, and those who are limping.’
14:22 And later the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’
14:23 And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the roads and the hedges and press upon them to come in, so that my house will be filled.
14:24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my dinner.’ ”
14:25 Now ①large crowds were going along with Him, and He turned and said to them,
▷ ①Lit many
14:26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not ①hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.
▷ ①I.e., in comparison to his love for Me
14:27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
14:28 For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?
14:29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who are watching it will begin to ridicule him,
14:30 saying, ‘This person began to build, and was not able to finish!’
14:31 Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to face the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
14:32 Otherwise, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and requests terms of peace.
14:33 So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not ①give up all his own possessions.
▷ ①Or renounce
14:34 “Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be ①seasoned?
▷ ①Or salted
14:35 It is useless either for the soil or the manure pile, so it is thrown out. The one who has ears to hear, ①let him hear.”
▷ ①Or hear! Or listen!