Luke 14 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

One Sabbath, Jesus went to eat at the home of a prominent Pharisee, and they were watching him closely.

Right there in front of him was a man whose body was swollen with fluid.

Jesus turned to the experts in the law and the Pharisees and asked, "Is it okay to heal someone on the Sabbath, or not?"

They stayed silent. So he took hold of the man, healed him, and sent him on his way.

Then he said to them, "If your son or your ox fell into a well on the Sabbath, wouldn't you pull him out immediately?"

And they had nothing to say to that.

He noticed how the guests kept picking the best seats at the table, so he told them this:

"When someone invites you to a wedding feast, don't take the seat of honor. Someone more important than you might have been invited,

and the host who invited both of you will come and say, 'Give this person your seat.' Then, humiliated, you'll have to take the lowest spot.

Instead, when you're invited, go sit in the lowest place. That way, when the host comes, he'll say, 'Friend, move up to a better seat!' Then everyone at the table will see you honored.

Because everyone who promotes themselves will be brought low, and everyone who takes the lowest place will be lifted up.

Then Jesus said to his host, "When you throw a lunch or dinner party, don't invite your friends, your brothers, your relatives, or your rich neighbors — because they'll just invite you back, and that's your payback.

Instead, when you host a banquet, invite people who are poor, disabled, unable to walk, and unable to see.

And you'll be genuinely happy, because they can't pay you back. You'll be paid back when those who are right with God rise from the dead."

One of the other guests heard this and said to him, "What a gift it will be to eat at the feast in God's kingdom!"

Jesus replied, "A man was putting on a huge banquet and invited a lot of people.

When it was time for the banquet, he sent his servant to tell the guests, 'Come on, everything is ready now.'

But they all started making excuses, one after another. The first one said, 'I just bought a field and I need to go check it out. Please excuse me.'

Another said, 'I just bought five pairs of oxen and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.'

Another said, 'I just got married, so I can't come.'

The servant came back and reported all this to his master. The homeowner got angry and told his servant, 'Go out right now into the streets and alleys of the city and bring in people who are poor, disabled, unable to see, and unable to walk.'

The servant said, 'Sir, I've done what you told me, and there's still room.'

The master told the servant, 'Go out to the back roads and country lanes and make people come in, so that my house will be full.

I'm telling you, not a single one of those people who were originally invited will get a taste of my banquet.'"

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and said to them,

"If anyone comes to me and doesn't hate their own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters — even their own life — they can't be my student.

Whoever doesn't carry their own execution stake and follow me can't be my student.

If you wanted to build a tower, wouldn't you first sit down and figure out the cost, to make sure you can actually finish it?

Otherwise, you'll lay the foundation and then not be able to finish, and everyone watching will start mocking you,

saying, 'This guy started building and couldn't finish!'

Or what king, going to war against another king, wouldn't first sit down and think about whether he can take on someone coming at him with twenty thousand troops when he only has ten thousand?

If he can't, he'll send a delegation while the other king is still far away and ask for terms of peace.

In the same way, anyone who doesn't give up everything they have can't be my student.

"Salt is good, but if salt loses its flavor, how can you make it salty again?

It's no good for the soil or the compost pile — you just throw it out. If you have ears to hear, then hear."