Genesis 18:7

18:7 Then Abraham ran to the herd and chose a fine, tender calf, and gave it to a servant, ¹  who quickly prepared it. ² 

Psalms 63:5

63:5 As if with choice meat ³  you satisfy my soul. ⁴ 

My mouth joyfully praises you, ⁵ 

Proverbs 9:2

9:2 She has prepared her meat, ⁶  she has mixed her wine;

she also has arranged her table. ⁷ 

Isaiah 25:6

25:6 The Lord who commands armies will hold a banquet for all the nations on this mountain. ⁸ 

At this banquet there will be plenty of meat and aged wine –

tender meat and choicest wine. ⁹ 

Isaiah 65:13-14

65:13 So this is what the sovereign Lord says:

“Look, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry!

Look, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty!

Look, my servants will rejoice, but you will be humiliated!

65:14 Look, my servants will shout for joy as happiness fills their hearts! ¹⁰ 

But you will cry out as sorrow fills your hearts; ¹¹ 

you will wail because your spirits will be crushed. ¹² 

Matthew 22:2-14

22:2 “The kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 22:3 He sent his slaves ¹³  to summon those who had been invited to the banquet, but they would not come. 22:4 Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Look! The feast I have prepared for you is ready. ¹⁴  My oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.”’ 22:5 But they were indifferent and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. 22:6 The ¹⁵  rest seized his slaves, insolently mistreated them, and killed them. 22:7 The ¹⁶  king was furious! He sent his soldiers, and they put those murderers to death ¹⁷  and set their city ¹⁸  on fire. 22:8 Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but the ones who had been invited were not worthy. 22:9 So go into the main streets and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ 22:10 And those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all they found, both bad and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. 22:11 But when the king came in to see the wedding guests, he saw a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 22:12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But he had nothing to say. ¹⁹  22:13 Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’ 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”

¹ tn Heb “the young man.”

² tn The construction uses the Piel preterite, “he hurried,” followed by the infinitive construct; the two probably form a verbal hendiadys: “he quickly prepared.”

³ tn Heb “like fat and fatness.”

⁴ tn Or “me.”

⁵ tn Heb “and [with] lips of joy my mouth praises.”

⁶ tn Heb “she has killed her killing.” Cf. KJV “hath killed her beasts”; NAB “has dressed her meat”; NASB “has prepared her food.”

⁷ sn Wisdom has prepared a sumptuous banquet in this house and sends out her maids to call the simple to come and eat (M. Lichtenstein, “The Banquet Motif in Keret and in Proverbs 9,” JANESCU 1 [1968/69]: 19-31). The figures of meat and wine represent the good teaching of wisdom that will be palatable and profitable (implied comparisons). Compare Isaiah 55:1-2 and John 6:51, 55 for similar uses of the figures. The idea of mixing wine could refer to the practice of mixing wine with spices or with water (as the LXX text assumes; e.g., Prov 23:30; Isa 5:22). Mixed wine was the most intoxicating; thus, her wisdom is attractive. All the imagery lets the simple know that what wisdom has to offer is marvelous.

⁸ sn That is, Mount Zion (see 24:23); cf. TEV; NLT “In Jerusalem.”

⁹ tn Heb “And the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] will make for all the nations on this mountain a banquet of meats, a banquet of wine dregs, meats filled with marrow, dregs that are filtered.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “from the good of the heart.”

¹¹ tn Heb “from the pain of the heart.”

¹² tn Heb “from the breaking of the spirit.”

¹³ tn See the note on the word “slave” in 8:9.

¹⁴ tn Grk “Behold, I have prepared my dinner.” In some contexts, however, to translate ἄριστον (ariston) as “dinner” somewhat misses the point. L&N 23.22 here suggests, “See now, the feast I have prepared (for you is ready).”

¹⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

¹⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

¹⁷ tn Grk “he sent his soldiers, destroyed those murderers.” The verb ἀπώλεσεν (apwlesen) is causative, indicating that the king was the one behind the execution of the murderers. In English the causative idea is not expressed naturally here; either a purpose clause (“he sent his soldiers to put those murderers to death”) or a relative clause (“he sent his soldier who put those murderers to death”) is preferred.

¹⁸ tn The Greek text reads here πόλις (polis), which could be translated “town” or “city.” The prophetic reference is to the city of Jerusalem, so “city” is more appropriate here.

¹⁹ tn Grk “he was silent.”