Text -- Luke 14:23 (NET)

14:23 So the master said to his slave, ‘Go out to the highways and country roads and urge people to come in, so that my house will be filled.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Luk 14:23

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the master’s response to the slave’s report.

² tn Grk “the”; in context the article is used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

³ sn Go out to the highways and country roads. This suggests the inclusion of people outside the town, even beyond the needy (poor, crippled, blind, and lame) in the town, and so is an allusion to the inclusion of the Gentiles.

⁴ tn The Greek word φραγμός (fragmo") refers to a fence, wall, or hedge surrounding a vineyard (BDAG 1064 s.v. 1). “Highways” and “country roads” probably refer not to separate places, but to the situation outside the town where the rural roads run right alongside the hedges or fences surrounding the fields (cf. J. A. Fitzmyer, Luke [AB], 1057).

⁵ tn Traditionally “force” or “compel,” but according to BDAG 60 s.v. ἀναγκάζω 2 this is a weakened nuance: “strongly urge/invite.” The meaning in this context is more like “persuade.”

⁶ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

⁷ sn So that my house will be filled. God will bless many people.