And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you:
Parallel translations
- WEB Into whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat the things that are set before you.
- BSB If you enter a town and they welcome you, eat whatever is set before you.
- NKJV Whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you.
- NASB Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is served to you;
- NLT “If you enter a town and it welcomes you, eat whatever is set before you.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
In any town that receives them, they are to eat what is set before them. They accept hospitality freely without burdening hosts or fussing over details.
Overview
This instruction reinforces simplicity, gratitude, and freedom from undue scruple in receiving hospitality. By eating what is offered, the messengers honor their hosts and stay unencumbered for the work. It models a posture of trust and contentment in dependence on God's provision.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- 1 Cor 10:27If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake.
- Matt 10:40He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
- Luke 9:48And said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great.
- Luke 10:10But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say,
- John 13:20Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 10:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.