Dine

Dine appears in Genesis 43:16, where Joseph commands that his brothers be brought to his house at noon to dine with him in Egypt—a custom Easton identifies as the standard Egyptian mealtime. The noon meal was likely the main meal of the day in Egypt, and the context of Joseph dining with his brothers (though at separate tables due to Egyptian custom, Gen. 43:32) represents a significant moment of escalating tension in the Joseph narrative before his self-revelation.

In the New Testament, Luke 14:12 uses the word in Jesus's teaching on true hospitality: not inviting only friends and family to dinners and banquets but welcoming the poor and those unable to repay. The broader biblical practice of table fellowship carried significant social and theological weight—sharing a meal signified acceptance, trust, and in some contexts covenant relationship. Jesus's repeated practice of dining with tax collectors and sinners was itself a theological statement about the nature of the kingdom (Luke 15:1–2; 19:5–7).