The Great Supper

The words

Luke 14:15–24 (opens a new tab)

1. Bade

   Invited; asked to come.

   Bade describes the host’s original invitation to many guests; the servant later tells those already bidden that everything is ready, before the excuses are reported.

   Luke 14:16–18 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 14:15-24 (opens a new tab)

2. Excuse

   The first two guests ask to be excused after mentioning land and oxen; the third simply says he cannot come because he has married. The master hears these replies from his servant.

   Luke 14:18–21 (opens a new tab)

3. Five Yoke

   Five pairs of oxen.

   The guest’s five yoke are five pairs, or ten oxen in all. He says he has bought them and is going to test them; the NET uses examine for that action.

   Luke 14:19 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 14:15-24 (opens a new tab) · Strong’s Greek: pair or yoke (opens a new tab)

4. Great Supper

   A diner’s remark about bread in God’s kingdom leads into Jesus’s story of a great supper; the NET calls it a banquet. The invited guests are told the meal is ready.

   Luke 14:15–17 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 14:15-24 (opens a new tab)

5. Hedges

   Hedges or fences along fields.

   The KJV’s hedges appear with highways in the later search beyond the city; the NET renders the term country roads and notes boundaries alongside rural routes.

   Luke 14:21–23 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 14:15-24 (opens a new tab)

6. Highways

   Roads outside the town, here.

   After the servant reports that room remains, the master sends him to the highways and hedges; the NET describes urging people to come in so the house will be filled.

   Luke 14:22–23 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 14:15-24 (opens a new tab)

7. Lanes

   Small streets or alleys.

   Lanes accompany streets in the master’s instruction to search the city and bring in new guests; the NET uses alleys. This comes before the servant reports that room still remains.

   Luke 14:21–22 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 14:15-24 (opens a new tab)

8. Maimed

   People with physical impairments, here.

   The master includes people described as maimed among those to be brought in from the city’s streets. The list also names poor and blind people and those with difficulty walking.

   Luke 14:21 (opens a new tab) · Strong’s Greek: maimed (opens a new tab)

9. Married

   The third man says he has married a wife and therefore cannot come; unlike the first two speakers, he does not add the request to be excused.

   Luke 14:18–20 (opens a new tab)

10. One Consent

    All alike; in accord.

    One consent introduces the pattern of excuses in the KJV; the NET says one after another and notes an alternative, all unanimously. The text then gives three individual replies.

    Luke 14:18–20 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 14:15-24 (opens a new tab)

11. Oxen

    The oxen belong to the second guest’s purchased teams; he gives examining them as his reason for declining, between the land buyer’s excuse and the newly married man’s reply.

    Luke 14:18–20 (opens a new tab)

12. Piece of Ground

    A field or plot of land.

    The first guest says he has bought a piece of ground and must go to see it; the NET calls it a field. He closes his reply by asking to be excused.

    Luke 14:18 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 14:15-24 (opens a new tab)

13. Quickly

    Quickly belongs to the order to search the city’s streets and lanes after the excuses are reported; the supper is already ready, and the servant later says there is still room.

    Luke 14:17, 21–22 (opens a new tab)

14. Streets

    Streets and lanes are the master’s first new search area, within the city; after the servant reports that room remains, the command extends to highways and hedges.

    Did you know?

    Zechariah’s picture of Jerusalem also fills its streets with older people and with children playing; the image appears in Zechariah 8:4–5.

    Luke 14:21–23 (opens a new tab) · Zechariah 8:4–5 (opens a new tab)

15. Taste

    The closing sentence says none of the originally bidden men will taste the supper; it follows the order to seek more guests so the house may be filled.

    Luke 14:23–24 (opens a new tab)