Living_Oracles(i)
1 It happened on a Sabbath, when he was gone to eat at the house of one of the rulers, who was a Pharisee, that while the Pharisees were observing him,
2 a man who had a dropsy stood before him.
3 Then Jesus addressing himself to the lawyers and Pharisees, said, Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath?
4 They being silent, he took hold of the man, healed and dismissed him.
5 Then resuming his discourse, he said to them, Who, amongst you, if his ass or his ox fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?
6 And to this they were not able to make him a reply.
7 Observing how eager the guests were to possess the higher places at the table, he gave them this injunction,
8 When you are invited to a wedding, do not occupy the highest place at table, lest one more considerable than you be bidden,
9 and he who invited you both, come and say to you, Give place to this man; and you should then rise with confusion, to take the lowest place.
10 But when you are invited, go to the lowest place, that when he who invited you comes, he may say to you, Friend, go up higher; for that will do you honor before the company.
11 For whoever exalts himself, shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself, shall be exalted.
12 He said also to him who had invited him, When you give a dinner, or a supper, do not invited your rich friends, brothers, cousins, or neighbors, lest they also invite you, in their turn, and you be recompensed.
13 But when you give an entertainment, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind;
14 and you shall be happy; for, as they have not the means to requite you, you shall be requited at the resurrection of the righteous.
15 One of the guests, hearing this, said to him, Happy be he who shall feast in the Reign of God.
16 Jesus said to him, A certain man made a great supper, and invited many.
17 And at supper time he sent his servants, to tell those who had been invited to come presently; for, that all was ready.
18 But they all, without exception, made excuses. One said, I have purchased a field, which I must go and see; I pray you have me excused.
19 Another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, which I am going to prove; I pray you have me excused.
20 A third said, I have married a wife; and, therefore, I can not go.
21 The servant being returned, related all to his master. Then the master of the house was angry, and said to his servants, Go immediately into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind.
22 Afterward, the servant said, Sir, your orders are executed, and still there is room.
23 The master answered, Go out into the highways, and along the hedges, and compel people to come, that my house may be filled:
24 for I declare to you, that none of those who were invited, shall taste of my supper.
25 As great multitudes traveled along with him, he turned to them, and said,
26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters; nay, and himself, too; he can not be my disciple.
27 And whosoever does not follow me, carrying his cross, can not be my disciple.
28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first, by himself, compute the expense, to know whether he have the means to complete it;
29 lest, having laid the foundation, and being unable to finish, he become the derision of all who see it;
30 who will say, This man began to build, but was not able to finish.
31 Or what king, going to engage another king, with whom he is at war, does not first consult, by himself, whether he can, with ten thousand men, encounter him who comes against him with twenty thousand;
32 that if he can not, he may, while the other is at a distance, send an embassy to sue for peace.
33 So then, whosoever he be of you, who does not renounce all that he has, he can not be my disciple.
34 Salt is good; but if the salt become insipid, with what shall it be seasoned?
35 It is fit neither for the land, nor for the dunghill, but is thrown away. Whosoever has ears to hear, let him hear.