Luke 14

One Sabbath day Jesus went to eat a meal at the house of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were watching him closely.

1And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him.

NoteThe Pharisees were a religious movement known for strict, detailed observance of the law of Moses, especially rules about purity, tithing and the Sabbath. The Sabbath ran from Friday evening to Saturday evening and was a day of rest; a festive midday meal after the synagogue gathering was customary, and the food would have been prepared the day before. The King James "to eat bread" is a Hebrew way of saying to have a meal, not a comment on the menu. The verb behind "they watched him" suggests watching with an eye to catching someone out, not simple curiosity.

2Right in front of him was a man whose body was badly swollen with fluid.

2And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy.

Note"Dropsy" was the ordinary English medical term until about 1900 for what is now called edema: a buildup of fluid that swells the limbs and abdomen. It is a symptom of failing kidneys, liver or heart rather than a disease in itself, and in the ancient world it was regarded as painful and usually fatal.

3Jesus spoke up and asked the experts in the law and the Pharisees, "Is it allowed to heal someone on the Sabbath day, or not?"

3And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?

NoteThe King James "lawyers" does not mean attorneys in the modern sense. These were scholars of the law of Moses, professional interpreters of scripture and of the traditions built up around it. The question at issue is not whether healing is a good thing but whether the work involved counts as work forbidden on the Sabbath; the accepted rule allowed action to save a life in immediate danger, and a man with dropsy was not dying that day.

4But they said nothing. So Jesus took hold of the man, healed him, and sent him on his way.

4And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go;

5Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a donkey or an ox that falls into a pit. Wouldn't you pull it out right away, even on the Sabbath day?"

5And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?

NoteThe Greek manuscripts differ here. Some read "a son or an ox," which is what most modern translations follow; others read "a donkey or an ox," the pairing found in the law of Moses about animals fallen on the road. The two words are close in Greek, and there is no way to settle which was original. The pit would be a cistern or water hole, often uncovered.

6And they had no answer to give him about any of this.

6And they could not answer him again to these things.

7Jesus noticed how the guests picked out the best seats at the table, so he told them this story:

7And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them,

NoteGuests at a formal meal reclined on couches set around low tables, and the places were ranked, with the seats nearest the host counting as the most honored. The King James "chief rooms" means top places at the table, not separate rooms of a house; "room" in 1611 English often meant simply a space or position.

8"When someone invites you to a wedding feast, don't sit down in the best seat. Someone more important than you may have been invited too.

8When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;

Note"Bidden" means invited throughout this chapter, and "the highest room" again means the most honored place at the table. At a large wedding feast the guests would not all arrive at once, so someone of higher rank could easily turn up after you had already settled in.

9Then the host who invited you both will come and say to you, 'Give this man your seat.' And you will be embarrassed as you move to the lowest seat.

9And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.

10Instead, when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest seat. Then when your host comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, move up to a better place.' You will be honored in front of everyone at the table.

10But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.

NoteIn 1611 "worship" still carried its older, everyday sense of honor or respect paid to a person, which survives in the English title "your worship" for a magistrate. It does not mean religious worship here. "Them that sit at meat" means the other guests reclining at the table.

11For everyone who lifts himself up will be brought down, and the person who makes himself low will be lifted up."

11For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

12Then Jesus said to the man who had invited him, "When you give a lunch or a dinner, don't invite your friends, your brothers, your relatives, or your rich neighbors. They may invite you back, and then you have already been paid back.

12Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.

NoteInvitations in this society worked as a system of obligation: accepting hospitality created a debt that had to be repaid with an invitation of equal or greater value, and the guest list advertised where a household stood socially. The King James "recompence" means repayment. A "dinner" here is the earlier, lighter meal of the day and a "supper" the main evening one.

13Instead, when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.

13But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:

NotePeople with disabilities, blindness or visible deformity were poor by default in a society with no other provision for them, and they could offer no return invitation. Some religious groups of the period, including the community at Qumran, also excluded such people from their formal meals on purity grounds.

14Then you will be blessed. They cannot pay you back, so you will be paid back when the righteous rise from the dead."

14And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

Note"The resurrection of the just" refers to the widely held Jewish expectation that God would raise the dead at the end of the present age. Pharisees held this belief; other groups, notably the Sadducees, denied it.

15One of the people eating at the table with him heard this and said to him, "How happy is the person who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God."

15And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.

NoteThe coming age of God's rule was often pictured in Jewish writing of the period as a great banquet. The man's remark is a conventional and comfortable one, the kind of pious saying anyone at the table could agree with.

16Jesus said to him, "A man was giving a great dinner, and he invited many guests.

16Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:

17When it was time to eat, he sent his servant to tell the invited guests, 'Come, because everything is ready now.'

17And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.

NoteInvitations to a large meal came in two stages. The first, days or weeks ahead, secured an acceptance so the host knew how much food to prepare; the second, on the day, told the guests who had already accepted that the meal was served. Backing out at the second stage was a public insult, because the animal had already been slaughtered and the expense already incurred.

18But every one of them started making excuses. The first said, 'I have bought a field, and I have to go look at it. Please excuse me.'

18And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.

19Another said, 'I have bought five pairs of oxen, and I am going to try them out. Please excuse me.'

19And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.

NoteA yoke is a pair of oxen harnessed to work together. Five yoke means ten animals, enough to work a substantial farm, so the man is wealthy. "Prove them" means test them for strength and whether they pull well as a team; a buyer would normally do this before purchase, not after.

20Still another said, 'I have just gotten married, so I can't come.'

20And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

NoteThe law of Moses excused a newly married man from military service and other public duties for a year, so this excuse has the shape of a legal exemption. Unlike the other two, this man does not even ask to be excused.

21The servant came back and told his master all this. Then the owner of the house was angry and said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.'

21So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.

NoteStreets and lanes are inside the town walls, so this first sweep gathers the town's own poor.

22Later the servant said, 'Sir, I have done what you told me, and there is still room.'

22And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.

23So the master said to the servant, 'Go out to the roads and the country lanes, and make them come in, so that my house will be full.

23And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

Note"The highways and hedges" are outside the town: the roads and the paths beside field walls where travelers, migrant workers and the homeless would be found. "Compel" translates a Greek word meaning to press or urge strongly. Custom required a poor stranger to refuse an unexpected invitation from a wealthy household at least once as a matter of politeness, so insistent pressing was how a genuine invitation was made.

24For I tell you, not one of those men I invited will get a taste of my dinner.'"

24For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

Note"You" is plural in Greek here, although the master is speaking to a single servant, which is one reason readers have long taken the last line as spoken past the characters of the story to the people at the table with Jesus.

25Large crowds were traveling with Jesus. He turned around and said to them,

25And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,

26"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

26If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Note"Hate" here reflects a Hebrew and Aramaic way of speaking in which the word covers preferring one thing far less than another, not hostility or ill feeling. The same idiom appears when scripture says Jacob loved Rachel and "hated" Leah, meaning he loved her less. Matthew's version of the same saying puts it as loving father or mother more than Jesus. The force of the idiom is deliberate shock: family loyalty was the strongest tie in that society.

27And whoever does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

27And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

NoteA man condemned to crucifixion was made to carry the crossbeam of his own cross through the streets to the place of execution. Under Roman rule this was a familiar public sight in Judea, and the image was not a figure of speech about ordinary hardship but a picture of a man walking to a shameful death.

28Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Wouldn't you first sit down and figure out the cost, to see if you have enough money to finish it?

28For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

NoteThe tower is likely a farm building: a stone watchtower over a vineyard or field, expensive enough that a landowner would need to reckon whether he could see it through. Half-built walls stood as a visible, permanent advertisement of the owner's miscalculation.

29If you don't, you might lay the foundation and then not be able to finish. Everyone who sees it will laugh at you,

29Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,

30saying, 'This man started to build and couldn't finish.'

30Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.

31Or suppose a king is going out to fight another king. Wouldn't he first sit down and think about whether he can face an army of twenty thousand with only ten thousand men?

31Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?

32If he can't, he will send messengers while the other king is still far away, and ask for terms of peace.

32Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.

NoteThe King James "ambassage" is an old form of "embassy" and means a delegation of envoys. "Conditions of peace" are the terms on which the weaker king asks to be allowed to settle, which in practice meant terms of surrender.

33In the same way, any one of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

33So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

34Salt is good. But if the salt loses its taste, how can it be made salty again?

34Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?

NoteIn the King James, "his" is simply the old form of "its." "Savour" means taste. Salt in that region was often gathered from deposits around the Dead Sea rather than refined, so it came mixed with gypsum and other minerals; when the sodium chloride dissolved away in damp storage, what was left looked like salt and tasted of nothing.

35It is no good for the soil or even for the manure pile. People just throw it out. Anyone who has ears to hear should listen."

35It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

NoteSpoiled salt cannot be used as a soil dressing, and it cannot even be thrown on the manure heap, which was collected and spread on the fields as fertilizer. Salt was also packed under the floor of clay ovens, where it helped the dung fuel burn, and the old salt was scraped out and discarded onto the road once it stopped working. "He that hath ears to hear" is a stock phrase for a saying that requires thought rather than a plain instruction.