Luke 14

1 One (Jewish day of rest/Sabbath day), Jesus went to eat [SYN] at the house of an important Pharisee. Some [men who studied the Jewish] laws and other Pharisees who were there were watching him carefully [to see if he would do something for which they could accuse him].

And it came to pass, on His going into the house of a certain one of the chiefs of the Pharisees, on a Sabbath, to eat bread, that they were watching Him,

2 Unexpectedly, there was a man in front of Jesus whose arms and legs were swollen.

and behold, there was a certain dropsical man before Him;

3 Jesus said to them, “Is it permitted in [our(inc)] Jewish laws to heal [someone] (on our Jewish rest day/on the Sabbath), or not?”

and Jesus answering spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

4 [They knew that their laws permitted it, but they thought that healing was work, which they thought was wrong to do] (on the Sabbath/on the Jewish rest day) (OR, [they knew that their laws permitted it, but they did not want to admit it]). So they did not reply. Then Jesus put his hands on the man and healed him. Then he told him to go [home].

And they were silent, and having taken hold of [him], He healed him, and let [him] go;

5 Then he said to the rest of them, “If you had a son or an ox that fell into a well on a (Sabbath/our day of rest), would you immediately [work to] pull him out, [or would you(sg) let him stay there until the next day]?”

and answering them He said, “Of which of you will a donkey or ox fall into a pit, and he will not immediately draw it up on the Sabbath day?”

6 [They knew that they would immediately work to pull him out, even on their day of rest, so they could not justly say that Jesus did wrong by healing the man on that day. So] they said nothing in reply to Jesus.

And they were not able to answer Him again to these things.

7 Jesus noticed that those people who had been {whom [the Pharisee] had} invited [to the meal] chose [to sit in] the places where important [people usually sit]. Then he gave [this advice] to them:

And He spoke an allegory to those called, marking how they were choosing out the first couches, saying to them,

8 “When one of you [(sg)] is invited by someone {someone invites one of you [(sg)]} to a wedding feast, do not sit in a place where important people sit. Perhaps the man [giving the feast] has invited a man more important than you [(sg)].

“When you may be called by anyone to wedding feasts, you may not recline on the first couch, lest [one] more honorable than you may have been called by him,

9 [When that man comes], the man who invited both of you will come to you [(sg)] and say to you, ‘Let this man take your seat!’ Then you [(sg)] will have to take the most undesirable seat, and you will be ashamed.

and he who called you and him having come will say to you, Give to this one [your] place, and then you may begin to occupy the last place with shame.

10 Instead, when you are invited {[someone] invites one of you} [to a feast], go and sit in the most undesirable seat. Then when the man who invited everyone comes, he will say to you [(sg)], ‘Friend, sit in a better seat!’ Then all the people who are eating with you [(sg)] will see that he is honoring you.

But when you may be called, having gone on, recline in the last place, that when he who called you may come, he may say to you, Friend, come up higher; then you will have glory before those dining with you;

11 Also, [remember this]: [God] will humble those who exalt themselves. And [he] will exalt those who humble themselves.”

because everyone who is exalting himself will be humbled, and he who is humbling himself will be exalted.”

12 [Jesus] also said to [the Pharisee] who had invited him to the meal, “When you [(sg)] invite people to a midday or evening meal, do not invite your friends or your family or your other relatives or your rich neighbors. They can later invite you [(sg) for a meal]. In that way they will repay you.

And He also said to him who called Him, “When you may make an early meal or a dinner, do not be calling your friends, nor your brothers, nor your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they may also call you again, and a repayment may come to you;

13 Instead, when you [(sg)] give a feast, invite poor [people], crippled [people], lame [people], or blind [people].

but when you may make a feast, be calling poor, maimed, lame, blind,

14 They will be unable to repay you. [But God will bless you! He] will repay you [at the time] when [he causes] righteous people to become alive again.”

and you will be blessed, because they have nothing to repay you, for it will be repaid to you in the resurrection of the righteous.”

15 One of those who were eating with Jesus heard him say that. He said to Jesus, “God [has truly] blessed [us Jews] who will eat [with the Messiah] when he starts to rule!”

And one of those dining with Him, having heard these things, said to Him, “Blessed [is] he who will eat bread in the Kingdom of God”;

16 But [to show that many Jews whom God had invited would not accept God’s invitation] [MET], Jesus replied to him, “One time a man [decided] to prepare a large feast. He invited many people to come.

and He said to him, “A certain man made a great dinner, and called many,

17 When it was the day for the feast, he sent his servant to tell those who had been {whom he had} invited, ‘Come [now] because everything is ready!’

and he sent his servant at the hour of the dinner to say to those having been called, Be coming, because now all things are ready.

18 But [when the servant did that], all of the people [whom he had invited] began to say why they did not want to come. The first [man the servant went to] said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please [ask your master to] forgive me for not coming!’

And all began with one [voice] to excuse themselves. The first said to him, I bought a field, and I have need to go forth and see it; I beg of you, have me excused.

19 Another person said, ‘I have just bought five pair of oxen, and I must go to examine them. Please [ask your master to] forgive me for not coming!’

And another said, I bought five yoke of oxen, and I go on to prove them; I beg of you, have me excused.

20 Another person said, ‘I have just been married. So I cannot come.’

And another said, I married a wife, and because of this I am not able to come.

21 So the servant returned to his master and reported what [everyone had said]. The owner of the house was angry [when he heard the reasons they gave for not] coming. He said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and alleys of the city [and find] poor and crippled and blind and lame [people, and bring] them here into [my house]!’

And that servant having come, told these things to his lord, then the master of the house, having been angry, said to his servant, Go forth quickly into the broad places and lanes of the city, and the poor, and maimed, and lame, and blind, bring in here.

22 [After the servant went and did that], he [came back and] said, ‘Sir, I have done what you [(sg)] told me to do, but there is still room [for more people].’

And the servant said, Lord, it has been done as you commanded, and still there is room.

23 [So] his master said to him, ‘Then go [outside the city]. Search for people along the highways. Search also along the narrow roads with hedges beside them [where homeless people may be staying]. Strongly urge the people in those places to come to [my house]. I want it to be full of [people]!’”

And the lord said to the servant, Go forth into the ways and hedges, and constrain to come in, that my house may be filled;

24 [Then Jesus said], “I tell you [(pl)] this: Very few of you [Jewish] people will enjoy my feast, even though [I] invited you [first to eat it with me when I become king].”

for I say to you that none of those men who have been called will taste of my dinner.”

25 Large groups of people were traveling with [Jesus]. He turned and said to them,

And there were going on with Him great multitudes, and having turned, He said to them,

26 “If anyone comes to me who loves his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters [more than] [HYP] [he loves me], he cannot be my disciple. He must even love me more than he loves his own life!

“If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, and yet even his own life, he is not able to be My disciple;

27 [People who are ready to execute a prisoner make] him carry his cross [MET] [to the place where others will nail him] on it. Only those who are willing [to allow others to hurt them and disgrace them] like that because of being my disciples, and who are willing to obey what I teach, can be my disciples.

and whoever does not carry his cross, and come after Me, is not able to be My disciple.

28 [I will illustrate] [MET]. If one of you desired to build a (tower/big house), (you would surely first sit down and determine how much it would cost!/would you not first sit down and determine how much it would cost?) [RHQ] Then you would determine whether you had enough money to complete it.

For who of you, willing to build a tower, does not first, having sat down, count the expense, whether he has the things for completing?

29 [If you did not do that], if you laid the foundation and were not able to finish [the rest of the tower], everyone who saw it would make fun of you.

Lest that he having laid a foundation, and not being able to finish, all who are beholding may begin to mock him,

30 They would say, ‘This man started to build [a tower], but he was not able to finish it!’

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

31 Or, if a king decided to [send his army to] war against another king, (he would surely first sit down [with those who] advised [him]./would he not first sit down [with those who] advised [him]?) [RHQ] They would determine whether [his army], which had only 10,000 soldiers, could defeat the [other army], which had 20,000 soldiers, and was about to attack his [army].

Or what king going on to engage with another king in war, does not, having sat down, first consult if he with ten thousand is able to meet him who is coming against him with twenty thousand?

32 If he [decided] that his army could not [defeat that army], he would send messengers to [the other king] while the other army was still far away. He would tell the messengers to say to that king, ‘What things must I do to have peace with your country?’

And if not so—he being yet a long way off—having sent a delegation, he asks the things for peace.

33 So, similarly, if any one of you does not first decide that you [(sg)] are [willing to] give up all that you have, you cannot be my disciple.”

So, then, everyone of you who does not take leave of all that he himself has, is not able to be My disciple.

34 [Jesus also said, “You are like] [MET] salt, which is useful [to put on food]. But (salt certainly cannot be made {[you] certainly cannot make salt} to taste salty again if it stops tasting salty!/can salt be made {can [you] make salt} to taste salty again if it quits tasting salty?) [RHQ]

The salt [is] good, but if the salt becomes tasteless, with what will it be seasoned?

35 [If salt does not taste salty any more], it is not good for the soil or even for the manure heap. [People] throw it away. [The same thing will happen to you if you become useless to God]. If you want to understand what I just said [IDM], you must consider [carefully] what you have heard!”

It is neither fit for land nor for manure—they cast it outside. He who is having ears to hear—let him hear.”