Then he said to his servants, "'The wedding banquet is ready, but those who were invited were unworthy of it.

"So they went to buy. But meanwhile the bridegroom came; those bridesmaids who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet; and the door was shut.

At length Herodias found her opportunity. Herod on his birthday gave a banquet to the nobles of his court and to the tribunes and the principal people in Galilee,

They will come from east and west, from north and south, and will sit down at the banquet in the Kingdom of God.

"When any one invites you to a wedding banquet, do not take the best seat, lest perhaps some more honoured guest than you may have been asked,

"There was once a rich man who habitually arrayed himself in purple and fine linen, and enjoyed a splendid banquet every day,