¹² Then He also said to him who invited Him, “When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. ¹³ But when you give a feast, invite ^(A)the poor, the ^[a]maimed, the lame, the blind. ¹⁴ And you will be ^(B)blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

The Parable of the Great Supper^(C)

¹⁵ Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, ^(D)“Blessed is he who shall eat ^[b]bread in the kingdom of God!”

^16 (E)Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, ¹⁷ and ^(F)sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ ¹⁸ But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ ¹⁹ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ ²⁰ Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ ²¹ So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the ^[c]maimed and the lame and the blind.’ ²² And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’ ²³ Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. ²⁴ For I say to you ^(G)that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ ”

The Chosen Stone and His Chosen People^(A)

⁴ Coming to Him as to a living stone, ^(B)rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, ⁵ you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,

⁷ Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who ^[a]are disobedient,

⁸ and

^(F)They stumble, being disobedient to the word, ^(G)to which they also were appointed.

⁹ But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of ^(H)darkness into His marvelous light; ^10 (I)who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.