KJV: And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them,
YLT: And he spake a simile unto those called, marking how they were choosing out the first couches, saying unto them,
Darby: And he spoke a parable to those that were invited, remarking how they chose out the first places, saying to them,
ASV: And he spake a parable unto those that were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief seats; saying unto them,
Ἔλεγεν | He was speaking |
Parse: Verb, Imperfect Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular Root: λέγω Sense: to speak, say. |
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τοὺς | those |
Parse: Article, Accusative Masculine Plural Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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κεκλημένους | having been invited |
Parse: Verb, Perfect Participle Middle or Passive, Accusative Masculine Plural Root: καλέω Sense: to call. |
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παραβολήν | a parable |
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular Root: παραβολή Sense: a placing of one thing by the side of another, juxtaposition, as of ships in battle. |
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ἐπέχων | remarking |
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: ἐπέχω Sense: to have or hold upon, apply, to observe, attend to. |
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πῶς | how |
Parse: Conjunction Root: πῶς Sense: how, in what way. |
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πρωτοκλισίας | first places |
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Plural Root: πρωτοκλισία Sense: the first reclining place, the chief place at table. |
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ἐξελέγοντο | they were choosing out |
Parse: Verb, Imperfect Indicative Middle, 3rd Person Plural Root: ἐκλέγομαι Sense: to pick out, choose, to pick or choose out for one’s self. |
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λέγων | saying |
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: λέγω Sense: to say, to speak. |
Greek Commentary for Luke 14:7
Perfect passive participle of καλεω kaleō to call, to invite. This parable is for the guests who were there and who had been watching Jesus. [source]
Present active participle of επεχω epechō with τον νουν ton noun understood, holding the mind upon them, old verb and common.They chose out (εχελεγοντο exelegonto). Imperfect middle, were picking out for themselves.The chief seats The first reclining places at the table. Jesus condemned the Pharisees later for this very thing (Matthew 23:6; Mark 12:39; Luke 20:46). On a couch holding three the middle place was the chief one. At banquets today the name of the guests are usually placed at the plates. The place next to the host on the right was then, as now, the post of honour. [source]
Imperfect middle, were picking out for themselves. [source]
The first reclining places at the table. Jesus condemned the Pharisees later for this very thing (Matthew 23:6; Mark 12:39; Luke 20:46). On a couch holding three the middle place was the chief one. At banquets today the name of the guests are usually placed at the plates. The place next to the host on the right was then, as now, the post of honour. [source]
Imperfect: were choosing. Something going on before his eyes. [source]
Or couches. The Greek writers refer to the absurd contentions which sometimes arose for the chief seats at table. Theophrastus designates one who thrusts himself into the place next the host as μικροφιλότιμος one who seeks petty distinctions. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Luke 14:7
From παρά , beside, and βάλλω , to throw. A parable is a form of teaching in which one thing is thrown beside another. Hence its radical idea is comparison. Sir John Cheke renders biword, and the same idea is conveyed by the German Beispiela pattern or example; beibeside, and the old high German speldiscourse or narration. The word is used with a wide range in scripture, but always involves the idea of comparison:1.Of brief sayings, having an oracular or proverbial character. Thus Peter (Matthew 15:15), referring to the words “If the blind lead the blind,” etc., says, “declare unto us thisparable. ” Compare Luke 6:39. So of the patched garment (Luke 5:36), and the guest who assumes the highest place at the feast (Luke 14:7, Luke 14:11). Compare, also, Matthew 24:39; Mark 13:28.2.Of a proverb. The word for proverb ( παροιμία ) has the same idea at the root as parable. It is παρά , beside, οἶμος , a way or road. Either a trite, wayside saying (Trench), or a path by the side of the high road (Godet). See Luke 4:23; 1 Samuel 24:13. 3.Of a song or poem, in which an example is set up by way of comparison. See Micah 2:4; Habakkuk 2:6. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- 4.Of a word or discourse which is enigmatical or obscure until the meaning is developed by application or comparison. It occurs along with the words αἴνιγμα , enigma, and πρόβλημα , a problem, something put forth or proposed ( πρό , in front βάλλω , to throw ). See Psalm 49:4 (Sept. 48:4); Psalm 78:2 (Sept. 77:2); Proverbs 1:6, where we have παραβολὴν , parable; σκοτεινὸν λόγον , dark saying; and αἰνίγματα , enigmas. Used also of the sayings of Balaam (Numbers 23:7, Numbers 23:18; Numbers 24:3, Numbers 24:15).In this sense Christ uses parables symbolically to expound the mysteries of the kingdom of God; as utterances which conceal from one class what they reveal to another (Matthew 13:11-17), and in which familiar facts of the earthly life are used figuratively to expound truths of the higher life. The un-spiritual do not link these facts of the natural life with those of the supernatural, which are not discerned by them (1 Corinthians 2:14), and therefore they need an interpreter of the relation between the two. Such symbols assume the existence of a law common to the natural and spiritual worlds under which the symbol and the thing symbolized alike work; so that the one does not merely resemble the other superficially, but stands in actual coherence and harmony with it. Christ formulates such a law in connection with the parables of the Talents and the Sower. “To him that hath shall be given. From him that hath not shall be taken away.” That is a law of morals and religion, as of business and agriculture. One must have in order to make. Interest requires capital. Fruit requires not only seed but soil. Spiritual fruitfulness requires an honest and good heart. Similarly, the law of growth as set forth in the parable of the Mustard Seed, is a law common to nature and to the kingdom of God. The great forces in both kingdoms are germinal, enwrapped in small seeds which unfold from within by an inherent power of growth.5. A parable is also an example or type; furnishing a model or a warning; as the Good Samaritan, the Rich Fool, the Pharisee and the Publican. The element of comparison enters here as between the particular incident imagined or recounted, and all cases of a similar kind.The term parable, however, as employed in ordinary Christian phraseology, is limited to those utterances of Christ which are marked by a complete figurative history or narrative. It is thus defined by Goebel (“Parables of Jesus”). “A narrative moving within the sphere of physical or human life, not professing to describe an event which actually took place, but expressly imagined for the purpose of representing, in pictorial figure, a truth belonging to the sphere of religion, and therefore referring to the relation of man or mankind to God.” In form the New Testament parables resemble the fable. The distinction between them does not turn on the respective use of rational and irrational beings speaking and acting. There are fables where the actors are human. Nor does the fable always deal with the impossible, since there are fables in which an animal, for instance, does nothing contrary to its nature. The distinction lies in the religious character of the New Testament parable as contrasted with the secular character of the fable. While the parable exhibits the relations of man to God, the fable teaches lessons of worldly policy or natural morality and utility. “The parable is predominantly symbolic; the fable, for the most part, typical, and therefore presents its teaching only in the form of example, for which reason it chooses animals by preference, not as symbolic, but as typical figures; never symbolic in the sense in which the parable mostly is, because the higher invisible world, of which the parable sees and exhibits the symbol in the visible world of nature and man, lies far from it. Hence the parable can never work with fantastic figures like speaking animals, trees,” etc. (Goebel, condensed). -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- The parable differs from the allegory in that there is in the latter “an interpenetration of the thing signified and the thing signifying; the qualities and properties of the first being attributed to the last,” and the two being thus blended instead of being kept distinct and parallel. See, for example, the allegory of the Vine and the Branches (John 15) where Christ at once identifies himself with the figure' “I am the true vine.” Thus the allegory, unlike the parable, carries its own interpretation with it. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Parable and proverb are often used interchangeably in the;New Testament; the fundamental conception being, as we have seen, the same in both, the same Hebrew word representing both, and both being enigmatical. They differ rather in extent than in essence; the parable being a proverb expanded and carried into detail, and being necessarily figurative, which the proverb is not; though the range of the proverb is wider, since the parable expands only one particular case of a proverb. (See Trench, “Notes on the Parables,” Introd.) [source]
Singular here, plural in Matthew 23:6. This semi-circular bench faced the congregation. Matthew 23:6 has also the chief place at feasts given by Luke also in that discourse (Luke 20:46) as well as in Luke 14:7, a marked characteristic of the Pharisees. [source]
Sit down at table. Jesus casts his thought into a familiar Jewish image. According to the Jewish idea, one of the main elements of the happiness of the Messianic kingdom was the privilege of participating in splendid festive entertainments along with the patriarchs of the nation. With this accords Luke 13:30, in allusion to places at the banquet. Compare Luke 14:7-9; Matthew 23:6. [source]
Imperfect active of επεχω epechō to hold to. For the idiom with τον νουν ton noun understood, see note Luke 14:7; 1 Timothy 4:16. He held his eyes right on Peter and John with great eagerness “expecting to receive something” He took Peter‘s invitation as a promise of a large gift. [source]
The verb means literally to hold upon or apply. Hence to fix attention upon, as Luke 14:7; Acts 3:5; 1 Timothy 4:16. In Acts 19:22, stayed: where the idea at bottom is the same - kept to. So in Sept., Job 27:8, of setting the heart on gain. Job 30:26, “fixed my mind on good.” In Genesis 8:10, of Noah waiting. In classical Greek, to hold out, present, as to offer wine to a guest or the breast to an infant. Also to stop, keep down, confine, cease. Here in the sense of presenting or offering, as A.V. and Rev. holding forth. [source]
Only here in Pastorals, and once in Paul, Philemon 2:16. Quite frequent in lxx. Lit. hold upon, fasten thy attention on, as Luke 14:7; Acts 3:5; Acts 19:22. In lxx, in the sense of apply, as Job 18:2; Job 30:26; or forbear, refrain, as 1 Kings 22:6, 1 Kings 22:15. In Philemon 2:16, to hold out or present, a sense which is found only in Class. [source]