¹⁵ But when one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “^(A)Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

Parable of the Dinner

¹⁶ And He said to him, “^(B)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 ^[a]piece of land and I need to go out and look at it. I ask you, consider me excused.’ ¹⁹ And another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out. I ask you, consider me excused.’ ²⁰ And another one said, ‘^(C)I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ ²¹ And when the slave came back, he reported these things to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ ²² And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ ²³ And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the ^[b]fences, 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 of my dinner.’”