¹⁵ When one of those who reclined [at the table] with Him heard this, he said to Him, Blessed (happy, fortunate, and ^[a]to be envied) is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!

¹⁶ But Jesus said to him, A man was once giving a great supper and invited many;

¹⁷ And at the hour for the supper he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, Come, for all is now ready.

¹⁸ But they all alike began to make excuses and to beg off. The first said to him, I have bought a piece of land, and I have to go out and see it; I beg you, have me excused.

¹⁹ And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to examine and ^[b]put my approval on them; I beg you, have me excused.

²⁰ And another said, I have married a wife, and because of this I am unable to come.^(A)

²¹ So the servant came and reported these [answers] to his master. Then the master of the house said in wrath to his servant, Go quickly into the ^[c]great streets and the small streets of the city and bring in here the poor and the disabled and the blind and the lame.

²² And the servant [returning] said, Sir, what you have commanded me to do has been done, and yet there is room.

²³ Then the master said to the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges and urge and constrain [them] to yield and come in, so that my house may be filled.

²⁴ For I tell you, not one of those who were invited shall taste my supper.

17 There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah.

² And he said to his mother, The 1,100 shekels of silver that were taken from you, about which you cursed and also spoke about in my hearing, behold, I have the silver with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be you by the Lord, my son!

³ He restored the 1,100 shekels of silver to his mother, and she said, I had truly dedicated the silver to the Lord from my hand for my son to make a graven image and a molten image; now therefore, I will restore it to you.

⁴ So when he restored the money to his mother, she took 200 pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith, who made of it a graven image and a molten image; and they were in the house of Micah.

⁵ And the man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod and teraphim and dedicated one of his sons, who became his priest.

⁶ In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.

⁷ And there was a young man in Bethlehem of Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he sojourned there.

⁸ And the man departed from the town of Bethlehem in Judah to sojourn where he could find a place, and as he journeyed he came to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah.

⁹ And Micah said to him, From where do you come? And he said to him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place.

¹⁰ And Micah said to him, Dwell with me and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver each year, a suit of clothes, and your living. So the Levite went in.

¹¹ And the Levite was content to dwell with the man, and the young man was to Micah as one of his sons.

¹² And Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest and was in the house of Micah.

¹³ Then said Micah, Now I know that the Lord will favor me, since I have a Levite to be my priest.