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Today's Verse Analysis

Luke 14:12 When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends,

Jesus starts a story about a man picking the best rooms and having someone more worthy show up and ends it with saying to take the lower place and be moved up.

Spoken to
an individual

Luke 14:12 Ὅταν ποιῇς ἄριστον ἢ δεῖπνον, μὴ φώνει τοὺς φίλους σου μηδὲ τοὺς ἀδελφούς σου μηδὲ τοὺς συγγενεῖς σου μηδὲ γείτονας πλουσίους, μή ποτε καὶ αὐτοὶ ἀντικαλέσωσίν σε καὶ γένηται ἀνταπόδομά σοι.

KJV Verse

Luke 14:12 When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.

NIV Verse:

Luke 14:12 When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.

What His Listeners Heard:

Whenever you make a breakfast or lunch, don't call those friends of yours nor those family members of yours nor those relatives of yours nor wealthy neighbors not when they themselves also invite you in turn and it becomes a bribe for you. 

Lost In Translation:

The use of repeated "neither/nor" phrases are a typical humorous technique that Jesus uses. It is a form of exaggeration, to set up the punchline. Jesus's listeners would not have thought there was anything wrong with inviting someone who can later invite them to a meal.

The punchline The word is uncommon in ancient Greek, but occurs a number of times in the Greek Old Testament where is used to mean "benefits" and "just punishment." In Isa 1:23, it is used to mean "bribes," which it likely the sense here. 

KJV w/Translation Issues :

When(CW) thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not(CW) thy (MWthose)  friends, nor thy (MWthose)  brethren, neither thy (MWthose)  kinsmen, nor thy(IW) rich neighbours; lest they (MWthemselves) also bid thee again, and a recompence be(WV) made(CW) thee.

KJV List (See full page for word-by-word analysis):
For analysis of each word of original Greek and biblical verses, click here.

Constantly Updated

My analysis standards and methods are constantly improving. New information on each verse is provided as articles are updated. It requires approximately two years for me to work through updating each of Jesus's verses.

What Jesus's Listeners Heard

The everyday meanings of the Greek words Jesus used were different than the definitions they have been given over time in biblical translation. The word translations here are based upon documents of his time such as the Greek Septuagint, not ideas unknown in his time.

About this Site

See what Jesus said in Greek and see how his words are changed in English translation. My goal is to translate Jesus's words as they were heard when he taught, not the way they are interpreted today. The work here resurrects the humor and cleverness of Jesus's words lost in translation.

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Each article provides detailed information on all the Greek words in each verse with links simplifying your own research. It compares the Greek to popular translations to show where words are confused, changed, left out, and added. This site offers research available nowhere else, such as how often Jesus uses a specific Greek word and links to a list of every verse in which he uses a given word.