Discovery BoxMatthew 9:15 
Context9:15 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
Context22:4 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
Context25:10 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.
