¹⁶ Then He said to him, “A man prepared a banquet and invited many, ¹⁷ and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now prepared.’

¹⁸ “But they all with one mind began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land, and I must go and see it. I ask you to excuse me.’

¹⁹ “Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to prove them. I ask you to excuse me.’

²⁰ “Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’

²¹ “The servant came and reported this to his master. Then the master of the house in anger said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’

²² “The servant said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and yet there is room.’

²³ “Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. ²⁴ For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ ”