What Does Luke 14:13 Mean in the King James?
But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The feast’s hidden center is the reception of those who cannot repay the welcome.
THE MEANING
The table is opened toward people who arrive without the means to return what they receive. Their need does not make them an afterthought; they are named as guests the feast is meant to include.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Hospitality is worthwhile only when a guest can repay it.
THE ROOT
δοχήν
dochēn
GROWS FROM
δέχομαι
dechomai
Receive, take in, welcome.
The word translated “feast,” δοχή (dochē, reception or banquet), belongs to the family of δέχομαι (dechomai, receive or welcome). The table’s welcome reaches people who have no way to return it.
ALSO GROWS
dechomai: Receive, accept, welcome.
δέχομαι
This base verb shows the receiving already present in the word for a feast.
apodechomai: Receive favorably, welcome.
ἀποδέχομαι
This related verb makes the idea of welcome explicit.
πτωχούς
ptōchous
GROWS FROM
πτώσσω
ptōssō
Crouch or cower; the related word family describes beggarlike dependence.
The word for the poor belongs to a family associated with crouching and begging, and πτωχεύω (ptōcheuō, live in poverty) describes poverty as a lived condition. Here, that dependence is part of the welcome: these guests have no power to repay the host.
ALSO GROWS
ptōchos: A poor person, especially one reduced to begging.
πτωχός
This is the singular form of the word used for the invited guests.
ptōcheuō: Be poor, live in poverty.
πτωχεύω
This related verb presents poverty as an ongoing condition rather than a label.
THE PATTERN
A gift’s fullest form reaches those who cannot return it.
Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.THE THREAD
And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.The next verse completes the invitation’s logic: these guests cannot repay the host. The recompense comes at the resurrection, beyond the exchange at the table.
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