Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is served to you;
Parallel translations
- WEB Into whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat the things that are set before you.
- KJV And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as 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.
- 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 10:27But if one of those who don’t believe invites you to a meal, and you are inclined to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no questions for the sake of conscience.
- Matt 10:40He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me.
- Luke 9:48and said to them, “Whoever receives this little child in my name receives me. Whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For whoever is least among you all, this one will be great.”
- Luke 10:10But into whatever city you enter, and they don’t receive you, go out into its streets and say,
- John 13:20Most certainly I tell you, he who receives whomever I send, receives me; and he who receives me, receives him who sent me.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.