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InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT ESA WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Luke C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24
Luke 14 V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V18 V19 V20 V21 V22 V23 V24 V25 V26 V27 V28 V29 V30 V31 V32 V33 V34 V35
OET (OET-LV) And he_sent_out the slave of_him at_the hour of_the supper to_say to_the ones having_been_invited:
Be_coming, because it_is now ready.
OET (OET-RV) When the meal was ready, he sent out his slave to go and tell everyone who’d been invited, ‘Come over now because the food is ready.’
Jesus next told a parable about a feast that a man invited many people to attend. When they refused to come, he invited other people instead. This parable teaches that it is very important to accept God’s invitation to be a part of his kingdom. The people who refused the invitation represent people who are not interested in being part of God’s kingdom. Those who accepted the invitation represent people who are glad to be part of God’s kingdom.
Luke 14:16–24 is all one speech by Jesus. Check to be sure that this is clear in your translation.
Some other possible headings for this section are:
The parable of the excuses
The guests who refused the invitation to attend a banquet
There is a similar parable in Matthew 22:1–10. However, many details are different, so be careful not to translate both parables in the same way.
When it was time for the banquet,
When everything was ready for the feast/party to begin,
When it was time for the banquet: The phrase When it was time for the banquet is more literally “at the hour of the feast.” It refers to the time when the host was ready for his guests to come to the feast. At this time the host sent out another message telling the invited guests to come.
he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited,
he sent one of his servants/slaves to tell the people whom he had invited
he sent a slave/worker to give them this message:
he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited: This verse part introduces a message that the host wanted to give his guests. Another way to translate this is:
he gave his servant this message to deliver/take to the people who had been invited
The message in 14:17c is in direct speech. In some languages it may be more natural to use indirect speech here. See the General Comment on 14:17b–c for suggestions.
his servant: The Greek word that the BSB translates as servant means “slave” (as in the NRSV). This word refers to someone who was owned by another person. He worked for his owner/master without receiving pay. The plural form of this word also occurs in 12:37a.
In some cultures, slaves may not be known. In other cultures, the word for slave may imply different customs than in biblical culture. If that is true in your language, some ways to translate this are:
worker/servant
messenger
those who had been invited: The verb had been invited is a passive verb. If a passive verb is not natural in your language here, some other ways to translate this clause are:
his guests (GNT)
those whom he had invited
them
‘Come, for everything is now ready.’
that everything was now ready, and they should come to the feast.
‘The meal is ready. You can come now.’
Come, for everything is now ready: This message implies that the guests should come to the host’s house for the banquet. In some languages it may be necessary to make the message more explicit. For example:
Come to the banquet, for everything is now ready.
Come to my house, for everything is now ready for the banquet.
Translate this message in a natural way in your language. In some languages it may be necessary to change the order of clauses in the message. For example:
Everything is now ready. So come!
In some languages it may be more natural to translate this message as indirect speech. For example:
he sent his servant to tell the guests that they should come to the feast because everything was ready
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom
τῇ ὥρᾳ τοῦ δείπνου
˱at˲_the hour ˱of˲_the supper
Jesus is using the term hour to refer to a specific time. Alternate translation: [at the time for the dinner] or [when the dinner was about to begin]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive
τοῖς κεκλημένοις
˱to˲_the_‹ones› ˓having_been˒_invited
If it would be helpful in your language, you could express this with an active form, and you could state who did the action. Alternate translation: [to those he had invited]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / quotesinquotes
ἔρχεσθε, ὅτι ἤδη ἕτοιμά ἐστιν
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ἀπέστειλεν τόν δοῦλον αὐτοῦ τῇ ὥρᾳ τοῦ δείπνου εἰπεῖν τοῖς κεκλημένοις Ἔρχεσθε ὅτι ἤδη ἑτοίμα ἐστίν)
If it would be helpful in your language, you could translate this so that there is not a quotation within a quotation. Alternate translation: [that they should come because everything was now ready]
OET (OET-LV) And he_sent_out the slave of_him at_the hour of_the supper to_say to_the ones having_been_invited:
Be_coming, because it_is now ready.
OET (OET-RV) When the meal was ready, he sent out his slave to go and tell everyone who’d been invited, ‘Come over now because the food is ready.’
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.
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