Matthew 9:15

9:15 Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests 1  cannot mourn while the bridegroom 2  is with them, can they? But the days 3  are coming when the bridegroom will be taken from them, 4  and then they will fast.

1 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).

2 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).

3 tn Grk “days.”

4 sn The statement the bridegroom will be taken from them is a veiled allusion by Jesus to his death, which he did not make explicit until the incident at Caesarea Philippi in 16:13ff.