Paragraph 14:21–24

14:21a–b

his master…the owner of the house: The two phrases his master and the owner of the house refer to the same person, the man who was planning the big feast in 14:16. If a literal translation does not make this clear, you may make it explicit in some way. For example:

The servant came back and reported this to his master, the owner of the house, who became very angry. He ordered the servant…

You may also use the same term or a very similar term in both places, as many English versions have done. For example:

his master…the master (New Century Version)
-or-
his master…the master of the house (God’s Word)

14:21a

This verse introduces what the servant did after the invited guests told him their excuses. In Greek, it begins with a conjunction. Several English versions translate it as “So.” Some versions translate it as “And,” Others, such as the Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Good News Translation, and New Jerusalem Bible, do not explicitly translate this conjunction. It can also be translated as a time clause. For example:

When the servant came back he reported this… (Revised English Bible)

Use a natural way in your language for connecting these events.

The servant returned and reported all this to his master: In some languages it may be more natural to connect the phrase to his master directly to the first verb, returned. For example:

The servant came back to his master and reported this to him.

servant: The word servant also occurs in 14:17b.

returned: Use the most natural way in your language to translate the servant’s return to his master. Other ways to translate it in English are:

went back (Good News Translation)
-or-
came back (New International Version)

reported all this to his master: The words all this refer here to what the guests told the servant. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

told his master what they had said (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
told his master what had happened (New Century Version)

his master: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as master refers here to the person who had authority over the slave. See lord, Context 1e, in the Glossary. The word last occurred in this context in 12:47.

14:21b

Then the owner of the house: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as owner of the house is literally “house-master.” See the note above on 14:21a–b for translation suggestions.

became angry: The owner of the house was angry at the guests he had invited, because they had refused his invitation. He was not angry at the servant. In some languages it may be necessary to make some of this explicit:

the owner of the house became angry ⌊with them⌋
-or-
the owner of the house was furious ⌊because of these answers/excuses⌋

and said to his servant: The verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as said introduces a command. Use a word that is natural in your language. For example:

and ordered his servant (New International Version)

14:21c

Go out quickly: When the master replied to his servant, he did not mention what the servant had said. He immediately gave a command that told the servant what to do about it. In some languages it may be more natural to include a connection to the servant’s report. For example:

All right then, hurry

In some languages it may be more natural to express the master’s words as an indirect quote. See the second example for 14:21c in the Display.

the streets and alleys of the city: The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as streets refers to the main streets of a town. The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as alleys refers to smaller, narrow streets. Together these terms refer to public areas in the town where beggars were likely to be found. In your translation you may use expressions that refer to such areas. For example:

streets and markets of the town
-or-
the roads and trails/paths in this town
-or-
main streets and side/narrow streets

14:21d

bring in: The verb bring in in this context means “invite to come right away.” The master wanted his servant to tell these other people to accompany him back to the feast at once.

the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame: These are the same four types of people as in 14:13. See the notes at 14:13b and 14:13c.

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