The Parable of the Great Banquet

Luke 14

12 Jesus also said to the man who had invited Him, When you give a dinner or a supper, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, lest perhaps they also invite you in return, and so you are paid back. 13 But when you give a banquet or a reception, invite the poor, the disabled, the lame, and the blind. 14 Then you will be blessed (happy, fortunate, and 1 to be envied), because they have no way of repaying you, and you will be recompensed at the resurrection of the just (upright).

15 When one of those who reclined [at the table] with Him heard this, he said to Him, Blessed (happy, fortunate, and 2 to be envied) is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God! 16 But Jesus said to him, A man was once giving a great supper and invited many; 17 And at the hour for the supper he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, Come, for all is now ready. 18 But they all alike began to make excuses and to beg off. The first said to him, I have bought a piece of land, and I have to go out and see it; I beg you, have me excused. 19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to examine and 3 put my approval on them; I beg you, have me excused. 20 And another said, I have married a wife, and because of this I am unable to come. 21 So the servant came and reported these [answers] to his master. Then the master of the house said in wrath to his servant, Go quickly into the 4 great streets and the small streets of the city and bring in here the poor and the disabled and the blind and the lame. 22 And the servant [returning] said, Sir, what you have commanded me to do has been done, and yet there is room. 23 Then the master said to the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges and urge and constrain [them] to yield and come in, so that my house may be filled. 24 For I tell you, not one of those who were invited shall taste my supper.

Amplified Bible (AMP) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
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