Parable of the Great Banquet

The following artwork is part of a series of 56 paintings on biblical themes by Kazakh artist Nelly Bube (born 1949):

Copyright by Norwegian Bible Society , used with permission.

For other images of Nelly Bube in TIPs, see here.

Following is a 1973 painting of the JESUS MAFA project, a response to New Testament readings from the Lectionary by a Christian community in Cameroon, Africa. Each of the readings was selected and adapted to dramatic interpretation by the community members. Photographs of their interpretations were made, and these were then transcribed to paintings:

In this painting, we see a generous, wealthy host, choosing to hold a feast for the poor. A large group of disenfranchised people are gathered together eating, talking, and enjoying one another’s company. The faces of the host and all his guests show expressions of joy and gratitude. This scene reveals a community who took Jesus’ instructions from Luke 14:13 seriously: “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.” Followers of Jesus are to remain humble, expecting nothing in return for the Christ-like love we are called to share with the world.

From Art in the Christian Tradition , a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. Image retrieved March 23, 2026. Original source: librairie-emmanuel.fr.

complete verse (Luke 14:24)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 14:24:

  • Noongar: “I tell you all, those people whom I had invited, not one of them will taste my food!”” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “Truly I say, from all those people that I not one of them will eat anything at my feast.’ ‘” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “For I tell you, he said, none of the people whom I had invited first will taste the food which I have prepared.’ ‘” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “It’s true what I say to you, that those first people that I invited, they will not be able to eat even just a little bit of this I prepared for the feast!’ ‘” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “I tell you (sing.) that there will be not even one of those whom I invited at first who will go taste the food I have prepared.’ ‘” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “He added on saying, ‘For what I will say to you is true that not one person of those who were invited who made excuses-for-not-coming will get to taste/try this food which I have caused-to-be-prepared.”” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Luke 14:24

Exegesis:

legō gar humin ‘for I tell you,’ cf. on 3.8. The subject of legō is either the master of the house, or Jesus, preferably the former.

oudeis tōn andrōn ekeinōn tōn keklēmenōn ‘none of those men who were (originally) invited.’ tōn keklēmenōn defines the reference of the demonstrative pronoun ekeinōn.

geusetai mou tou deipnou ‘shall taste my dinner,’ i.e. ‘shall eat of my dinner.’ For possessive mou cf. on v. 23. geuomai also 9.27.

Translation:

Those men who were invited, or, specifying which group is intended, ‘the men who were first invited’ (e.g. in Willibrord, Javanese), ‘the men I invited previously.’

Taste my banquet, or, ‘eat/partake of the banquet/feast I give, or, the meal I (caused to be) prepared.’

Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Luke 14:24

14:24

For I tell you: The phrase For I tell you introduces an important statement about the people who refused to come to the banquet (14:18). The host wanted to emphasize this statement. Some ways to show this emphasis are:

• As a phrase before the master’s statement. For example:

For let me tell you this
-or-
Listen
-or-
I assure you

• As an emphatic word within the master’s statement. For example:

I will certainly not allow any of those men whom I originally invited to come to my feast.

See the notes on 3:8d and 10:12.

The pronoun you is plural in Greek. It probably refers here to the servant and the second group of invited guests who were already present in the house.

The command I tell you contrasts with the singular commands given to the servant in the preceding verses. Almost all English versions indicate with quotation marks that this command is part of the parable and gives the words of the host. However, Jesus probably implied that God would react in a similar way at the feast in the kingdom of God (see 14:15).

not one of those men who were invited will taste my banquet: The leader of the feast was speaking very strongly here. He meant that he would certainly not allow any of the people he had first invited to come to his feast. He was referring to those who had refused his first invitation (14:16–20). In some languages it may be necessary to make this explicit:

⌊I will not permit⌋ any of those men whom ⌊I⌋ invited ⌊at the beginning⌋ to eat any of my banquet.

will taste my banquet: This phrase indicates that the people who made excuses would not be allowed to attend the feast or to eat any of the food. In some languages, this phrase is clear and natural. Otherwise, you may use a more general phrase. Some of the ways to translate this phrase are:

will taste my dinner (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
will get even a bite of my food (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
will eat with me (New Century Version)

my banquet: The phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as my banquet means “the banquet that I caused to be prepared.” It refers to the feast that the master had prepared for his guests.

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