Mark 2:19

2:19 Jesus 1  said to them, “The wedding guests 2  cannot fast while the bridegroom 3  is with them, can they? 4  As long as they have the bridegroom with them they do not fast.

Mark 3:27

3:27 But no one is able to enter a strong man’s 5  house and steal his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can thoroughly plunder his house. 6 

1 tn Grk “And Jesus.”

2 tn Grk “sons of the wedding hall,” an idiom referring to wedding guests, or more specifically, friends of the bridegroom present at the wedding celebration (L&N 11.7).

3 sn The expression while the bridegroom is with them is an allusion to messianic times (John 3:29; Isa 54:5-6; 62:4-5; 4 Ezra 2:15, 38).

4 tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “can they?”).

5 sn The strong man here pictures Satan.

6 sn Some see the imagery here as similar to Eph 4:7-10, although no opponents are explicitly named in that passage. Jesus has the victory over Satan. Jesus’ acts of healing mean that the war is being won and the kingdom is coming.