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.

Matthew 22:4

22:4 Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Look! The feast I have prepared for you is ready. 5  My oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.”’

Matthew 25:10

25:10 But while they had gone to buy it, the bridegroom arrived, and those who were ready went inside with him to the wedding banquet. Then 6  the door was shut.

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.

5 tn Grk “Behold, I have prepared my dinner.” In some contexts, however, to translate ἄριστον (ariston) as “dinner” somewhat misses the point. L&N 23.22 here suggests, “See now, the feast I have prepared (for you is ready).”

6 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.