Devine Scripture

Luke 14:8

What does Luke 14:8 mean?

A plain-English look at Luke 14:8 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What Luke 14:8 means

Jesus counsels the invited: do not seat yourself in the place of honor at a wedding feast. It is wiser to assume a lower seat than to be publicly demoted when someone more honored arrives. The point is not social strategy but humility. Presumption risks humiliation because it overestimates one’s worth and ignores the host’s prerogative. God is the true Host in life’s feast; He alone assigns honor. To grasp for status reveals distrust in His ordering of things. By advising restraint, Jesus protects from shame and teaches a heart posture that leaves exaltation to God, not to self-promotion or comparisons with others.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

When thou art bidden of any man to a marriage feast, sit not down in the chief seat; lest haply a more honorable man than thou be bidden of him,

KJV

King James Version · 1611

When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

When thou art bidden of any man to a marriage feast, sit not down in the chief seat; lest haply a more honorable man than thou be bidden of him,

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

When you get a request to come to a feast, do not take the best seat, for a more important man than you may be coming,

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

`When thou mayest be called by any one to marriage-feasts, thou mayest not recline on the first couch, lest a more honourable than thou may have been called by him,

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

When thou art invited to a wedding, sit not down in the first place, lest perhaps one more honourable than thou be invited by him:

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

When thou art invited by any one to a wedding, do not lay thyself down in the first place at table, lest perhaps a more honourable than thou be invited by him,

Context

This instruction begins the concrete application of Jesus’ observation from verse 7. The wedding feast imagery provides a vivid, relatable setting. Verse 9 will expand the negative consequence of presumption—public shame—while verse 10 will present the positive alternative of taking the lowest place. The cumulative effect prepares for the principle stated in verse 11: God overturns the world’s honor calculus. This frame will then be extended to how we give hospitality (12–14), showing that humility in seeking honor leads to generosity in giving honor to the lowly.

v.7And he spake a parable unto those that were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief seats; saying unto them,

v.8This passage

v.9and he that bade thee and him shall come and say to thee, Give this man place; and then thou shalt begin with shame to take the lowest place.

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • Proverbs 25:6

    Put not thyself forward in the presence of the king, And stand not in the place of great men:

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