New American Standard Bible

Luke 14:5-19 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

5. And He said to them, "Which 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?"

6. And they could make no reply to this.

7. And He began speaking 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,

8. "When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him,

9. and he who invited you both will come and say to you, 'Give your place to this man,' and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place.

10. But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher'; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you.

11. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

12. And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment.

13. But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,

14. and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

15. 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!"

16. But He said to him, "A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many;

17. and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, 'Come; for everything is ready now.'

18. But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, 'I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.'

19. Another one said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.'