The Fallible Study Bible

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Matthew9:14–15

Questions about Fasting

✦ Public-domain source — quoted & attributed⚙ AI synthesis — generated, verify

Matthew 9:14–15 — Questions about Fasting. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

14

Then John’s disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast so often, but Your disciples do not fast?”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Tote Iōannou hoi mathētai proserchontai autō legontes Dia ti hēmeis kai hoi Pharisaioi nēsteuomen polla hoi de sou mathētai ou nēsteuousin

Word by word21 · parsed
ΤότεToteThenG5119
√ τότε — the when, iAdverb
ἸωάννουIōannouJohn’sG2491
√ Ἰωάννης — Joannes (iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
Ἰωάννης: John The genitive stands first in the Greek clause, before the article and noun it governs: John’s disciples, with the master’s name in the emphatic slot. Ellicott notes that the Baptist’s followers still formed a separate body during our Lord’s ministry, with their own fast days and their own forms of prayer (Luke 11:1).
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
μαθηταὶmathētaidisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
προσέρχονταιproserchontaicameG4334
√ προσέρχομαι — to approach, iVerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Plural
προσέρχομαι: to come near, approach A historic present, holding the approach open in front of the reader. The compound (πρός plus ἔρχομαι) is the motion word Matthew reserves for drawing near to a person with standing; the same root returns in v. 15 as ἐλεύσονται, “days will come,” so the verse and its answer are bound by one verb of arrival: they come to him now, a darker day comes later.
αὐτῷautōto [Jesus]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
λέγοντεςlegontes[and] askedG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
ΔιὰDiaWhy is it thatG1223
√ διά — through (in very wide applications, local, causal, or occasional)Preposition
διά: through, on account of With the interrogative it forms “on account of what,” a request for grounds rather than a neutral “why.”
τίti. . .G5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
ἡμεῖςhēmeisweG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 1st Person Plural
ἐγώ: I, me (here plural, we) An emphatic pronoun that the verb ending did not require. The whole controversy sits in it: a party has formed, and the party includes the Pharisees.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ΦαρισαῖοιPharisaioiPhariseesG5330
√ Φαρισαῖος — a separatist, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
Φαρισαῖος: a separatist, Pharisee The questioners align themselves with the Pharisees in the same breath, which is why Gill judges the words “not so much by way of inquiry, as reproof”. Geneva’s marginal note names the fault more sharply still, as rivalry in a matter of small importance.
νηστεύομενnēsteuomenfastG3522
√ νηστεύω — to abstain from food (religiously)VerbPresent Indicative Active1st Person Plural
νηστεύω: to abstain from food religiously A rare verb, present in only fifteen verses in the Greek New Testament, and it or its cognates carry this entire unit (vv. 14 and 15, three times). Benson records that the Law enjoined one fast day only, the tenth of the seventh month, and that everything beyond it was voluntary accretion; Barnes and Gill both note the twice-weekly Pharisaic fast of Luke 18:12. The dispute is therefore not about obedience to Moses but about the weight of custom.
πολλάpollaso oftenG4183
√ πολύς — (singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) manyAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
πολύς: much, many Adverbial accusative, “much, often.” Its textual standing is contested (see the divergence): Pulpit would omit it with Vaticanus and the original hand of Sinaiticus.
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
δὲdebutG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
σουsouYourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
μαθηταίmathētaidisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
οὐou{do} notG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
οὐ: the absolute negative The flat, factual negative (contrast the interrogative μή of v. 15): they simply do not fast.
νηστεύουσινnēsteuousinfastG3522
√ νηστεύω — to abstain from food (religiously)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
νηστεύω: to abstain from food religiously The same verb closes the question that it opened, now in the third person and negated, so the sentence is built as a balance: we fast much / thy disciples do not fast. Jesus will not answer the balance; he will change the occasion.
15

Jesus replied, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while He is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai ho Iēsous eipen autois dynantai Mē hoi huioi tou nymphōnos penthein eph’ hoson ho nymphios estin met’ autōn de hēmerai eleusontai hotan ho nymphios aparthē ap’ autōn kai tote nēsteusousin

Word by word31 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
εἶπενeipenrepliedG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἔπω: to speak, say Aorist: one decisive reply. Matthew gives Jesus a counter-question rather than a defence.
αὐτοῖςautoisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
δύνανταιdynantaiHow canG1410
√ δύναμαι — to be able or possibleVerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Plural
δύναμαι: to be able, to be possible The issue is not permission but possibility. Pulpit calls it “a moral impossibility,” comparing Matthew 6:24: certain things cannot be done at the same time because their occasions exclude each other.
ΜὴMēG3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
μή: not, lest The interrogative particle that expects the answer “no.” Jesus does not forbid the objectors’ fasting; he makes them pronounce the verdict themselves.
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
υἱοὶhuioiguestsG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounNominative Masculine Plural
υἱός: son A Semitic idiom of belonging rather than descent (compare “sons of the kingdom,” Matthew 8:12): those who belong to the wedding chamber. Geneva names it a Hebrew idiom; Gill cites the rabbinic ruling that “the children of the bride chamber” were released from the booths of Tabernacles and from the stated times of prayer, so the objectors are answered out of their own tradition: the wedding suspends the calendar.
τοῦtouof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
νυμφῶνοςnymphōnosbridegroomG3567
√ νυμφών — the bridal roomNounGenitive Masculine Singular
νυμφών: the bridal room A rare noun, found in only three verses of the New Testament, and its rarity is the strongest verbal tie between this saying and the Markan and Lukan parallels. Note that the Greek names the room, not the man; the English idiom has no equivalent and must borrow the bridegroom to make the phrase.
πενθεῖνpentheinmournG3996
√ πενθέω — to grieve (the feeling or the act)VerbPresent Infinitive Active
πενθέω: to grieve, to mourn A rare verb (ten verses). It is the verb of the beatitude “blessed are they that mourn” (Matthew 5:4), and it is the verb used of the disciples after the crucifixion at Mark 16:10. Here Jesus denies it of the present hour, which means he is not abolishing grief but dating it.
ἐφ’eph’vvvG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
ὅσονhosonwhileG3745
√ ὅσος — as (much, great, long, etcPersonal / Relative PronounAccusative Masculine Singular
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
νυμφίοςnymphios[He]G3566
√ νυμφίος — a bride-groom (literally or figuratively)NounNominative Masculine Singular
νυμφίος: bridegroom Gill states it flatly, that by the bridegroom Christ means himself. The claim is not argued, only assumed, and it is assumed in front of the Baptist’s own disciples, who had heard their master call Jesus the bridegroom (John 3:29). Cambridge adds the prophetic background: the Jews symbolized the congregation by the image of a bride, so to take the bridegroom’s place in that image is to take the place the prophets assign to God.
ἐστινestinisG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
εἰμί: to be, to exist Present tense governed by ἐφ’ ὅσον, “for as long as”: the whole permission to feast is measured by a duration, and the duration is his presence.
μετ’met’withG3326
√ μετά — properly, denoting accompanimentPreposition
αὐτῶνautōnthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἡμέραιhēmerai[the] timeG2250
√ ἡμέρα — day, iNounNominative Feminine Plural
ἡμέρα: day Plural, “days,” rendered “the time.” The Hebraic idiom “days will come” is the prophets’ formula for an appointed future (and the plural leaves the length open), so the fasting of the Church is not an endless state but a marked stretch between a removal and a return.
ἐλεύσονταιeleusontaiwill comeG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbFuture Indicative Middle3rd Person Plural
ἔρχομαι: to come, to go Future middle, and the same root as the disciples’ προσέρχονται in v. 14. They came with a question about days; he answers with days that are coming on their own, not summoned.
ὅτανhotanwhenG3752
√ ὅταν — whenever (implying hypothesis or more or less uncertainty)Conjunction
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
νυμφίοςnymphiosbridegroomG3566
√ νυμφίος — a bride-groom (literally or figuratively)NounNominative Masculine Singular
ἀπαρθῇaparthēwill be takenG522
√ ἀπαίρω — to lift off, iVerbAorist Subjunctive Passive3rd Person Singular
ἀπαίρω: to lift off, to take away Aorist subjunctive passive: the bridegroom does not leave, he is taken. Ellicott and Cambridge both mark this as the first intimation of his death in Matthew’s record of the public teaching. The passive voice is the whole theology of the clause: violence is done to him, and the fasting that follows is grief at an absence that was inflicted.
ἀπ’ap’fromG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
αὐτῶνautōnthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τότεtotethenG5119
√ τότε — the when, iAdverb
τότε: then, at that time The same adverb that opened v. 14. The question began with a “then” of circumstance and is answered with a “then” of appointment.
νηστεύσουσινnēsteusousinthey will fastG3522
√ νηστεύω — to abstain from food (religiously)VerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
νηστεύω: to abstain from food religiously Future indicative, not imperative. Pulpit is careful here: “there is no trace of a command, Christ is but stating a fact”. Ellicott agrees that the words hardly impose fasting as a formal obligation, yet sanction the principle on which fasting rests, and points to Acts and 2 Corinthians 11:27 for the apostolic practice. The verb that began as an accusation ends as a prediction.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The question, and who is asking it — 9:14

⚙ Matthew alone makes the objection come from the Baptist’s disciples. Pulpit notices this and draws the conclusion that of the three accounts St. Matthew’s points out the most clearly that the objection originated with the disciples of John the Baptist. Ellicott fills in why they could raise it at all: the followers of the Baptist continued during our Lord’s ministry to form a separate body, with their own days of fasting and their own forms of prayer. Benson supplies the legal arithmetic, that the Law enjoined one fast day only, the tenth of the seventh month, and that the rest were voluntary; Barnes and Gill add the twice-weekly Pharisaic fast of Luke 18:12. So the complaint has no commandment behind it, only a custom that has become a party badge, and the emphatic ἡμεῖς in the Greek (a pronoun the verb did not need) is exactly where the party stands: we and the Pharisees, over against thy disciples. The commentators divide on the motive. Geneva calls it wicked rivalry in matters of small importance and Gill calls it reproof rather than inquiry; Ellicott insists they were at least not hypocrites, and that this is why they are answered without the sternness of vv. 11 to 13. Barnes goes further and supplies a reason for real grief, that John was then in prison. That last is inference (from Matthew 11:2 and 14:12), not something this verse says, and we mark it as inference.

ii. The counter-question: a wedding cannot be kept as a funeral — 9:15a

⚙ Jesus answers with a question built to be answered by the objectors. The particle Μὴ expects “no,” and Pulpit names the force flatly: “It is a moral impossibility.” Notice what Matthew actually asks: not whether the wedding party can fast (so Mark 2:19 and Luke 5:34) but whether they can πενθεῖν, mourn. Pulpit judges Matthew’s word the more original because it is less closely tied to the objection raised, and Cambridge observes that fasting and mourning are here treated as synonymous, adding honestly that they are so only to the perfectly sincere. The argument therefore moves beneath the practice to the occasion: fasting is the body that grief takes, and there is no grief while the bridegroom is present. Gill answers the objectors from their own halakhah, citing the rabbinic rulings that the bridegroom, his friends, and all the children of the bride chamber are free from the booths of Tabernacles and from the stated times of prayer; Geneva calls the phrase a Hebrew idiom; Cambridge pictures the lamps and flambeaux of the procession. And Cambridge presses the identification the image forces: the Jews symbolized the congregation by the figure of a bride, so Jesus, setting himself forth as the Bridegroom, is standing where the prophets put God. Ellicott points out that this was not new to these particular hearers: their own master had pointed to Jesus as the Bridegroom (John 3:29), so the argument came to them with special force.

iii. ἀπαρθῇ, and the days that make fasting fit — 9:15b

⚙ The sentence turns on one verb. ἀπαρθῇ (G522, aorist subjunctive passive) means “he should be lifted off, taken away,” and Pulpit draws the grammar out: “His removal shall be effected, not by his own action, but by external agents.” Ellicott calls it the first recorded intimation in our Lord’s public teaching of His coming death, and Cambridge says the same in four words: for the first time Jesus alludes to His death. It is worth weighing that this comes not in a passion prediction but in a dispute about mealtimes. Then the tense of the last clause: νηστεύσουσιν is a future indicative, and Pulpit will not let it become anything else, since there is no trace of a command, Christ is but stating a fact. Ellicott reaches the same conclusion from the other side, that the words can hardly be looked on as a command imposing fasting as a formal obligation, yet beyond all doubt they sanction the principle on which fasting rests, and he points to Acts 10:10 and 2 Corinthians 11:27 for the practice. Benson, quoting Macknight, adds the negative case: Christ did not mean that the Pharisaical fasts should be introduced into his Church when he was gone. The commentators are not fully agreed on what follows for the Church calendar (Ellicott leans toward fasts at special seasons of sorrow, Pulpit records that the Didache forbids fasting on the Pharisees’ days), and we do not pretend they are.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ Offered to be tested. The objectors ask a question about frequency and are answered with a question about occasion, and the whole reply hangs on the word πενθεῖν, mourn. Jesus never says fasting is wrong, never says it is right; he says it is the shape grief takes, and asks what there is to grieve while the bridegroom stands in the room. That is a claim about his own identity made so quietly that it can be missed: in the prophets, the husband of the congregation is God. But the second half is the harder half. He does not say the bridegroom will leave. He says ἀπαρθῇ, he will be taken away, passive, by other hands, and the disciples’ fasting is dated from that violence. So Christian fasting, on this reading, is not a discipline his people invented and not a merit they accumulate; it is the body of an absence, honest about the fact that the wedding was interrupted and that the guests are waiting. Which means the question put to Jesus was better than the objectors knew. They asked why his disciples do not fast. The answer is that the reason for fasting had not happened yet, and when it did, nobody had to command it.

This next line is our own fallible synthesis and not a verse of Scripture: he did not make fasting a rule, he gave it a date.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The same saying in Mark and Luke, and the rare word that ties them verbal / quotation: confirmed

The synoptic parallels carry the saying almost word for word. The Verifier’s computed bases put Mark 2:19 and Luke 5:34 in the same frame as Matthew 9:15, sharing νυμφών (G3567, the bridal chamber, found in only three verses), νυμφίος (G3566, twelve verses) and νηστεύω (G3522, fifteen verses); Mark 2:20 and Luke 5:35 share the removal-and-then-fasting clause. The one real difference is Matthew’s verb: he writes “mourn” where Mark and Luke write “fast,” and Pulpit judges Matthew’s the more original reading precisely because it is the less obvious one. Cambridge and Barnes both treat the three accounts as one narrative.

Mark 2:19 · Mark 2:20 · Luke 5:34 · Luke 5:35

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G3567 νυμφών (in 3 vv, rare), G3566 νυμφίος (in 12 vv), G3522 νηστεύω (in 15 vv) for Mark 2:19 / Luke 5:34; G3522 νηστεύω (in 15 vv) with G5119 τότε for Mark 2:20 / Luke 5:35. All four refs are Greek New Testament, so the shared-lexeme basis is a genuine verbal link, not a cross-Testament inference

Matthew’s own earlier teaching on fasting structural / thematic: confirmed

Matthew 6:16 to 18 had already put fasting under the rule of secrecy: “whenever you fast” (ὅταν plus νηστεύω, the same two words that build v. 15’s “when the bridegroom will be taken”), do not disfigure the face. The First Gospel therefore never attacks fasting; it attacks fasting done for an audience, and here it adds the second test, whether the occasion is a wedding or a wake. Pulpit refers the reader to Matthew 6:16 at this verse, and Barnes does the same at v. 14. This is a real shared vocabulary, but no quotation is being made, so the badge stays structural.

Matthew 6:16 · Matthew 6:17 · Matthew 6:18

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G3522 νηστεύω (in 15 vv) and G3752 ὅταν (in 119 vv). The rare verb is a real verbal tie inside one Gospel, but there is no citation or quotation formula, so the tier is downgraded to structural / thematic

The bridegroom’s own fast, before the wedding structural / thematic: confirmed

The same rare verb νηστεύω stands at Matthew 4:2, where Jesus, having fasted forty days and forty nights, was hungry. Matthew’s Gospel therefore does not exempt Jesus from fasting; it dates his. The wilderness fast precedes the ministry, the disciples’ fast follows the removal, and between them stands the interval in which the objectors are standing. We claim no citation here, only Matthew’s own patterning with a fifteen-verse verb and the word “days” shared with v. 15.

Matthew 4:2

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G3522 νηστεύω (in 15 vv) and G2250 ἡμέρα (in 368 vv). Same book, same author, no quotation claimed; the link is a pattern of occasions, so structural / thematic

When the fasting actually started structural / thematic: confirmed

Acts 13:2 and 13:3 are the plainest recorded fulfilment of the last clause: the church at Antioch is worshipping and fasting (G3522), and then (G5119 τότε, the same adverb that closes v. 15) they fast and pray and lay hands on Barnabas and Saul. Ellicott appeals to this apostolic practice at this verse, and Pulpit lists Acts 13:2 and 3 among the only later New Testament passages where Christian fasting is mentioned. What Acts shows is that the fasting Jesus predicted arrived without a rule being issued, which is what a future indicative rather than an imperative would lead one to expect.

Acts 13:2 · Acts 13:3

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G3522 νηστεύω (in 15 vv) and G5119 τότε (in 158 vv). A fulfilment pattern, not a quotation of Matthew, so structural / thematic rather than verbal

The mourning verb: promised, denied, and then fulfilled flagged: verify source

πενθέω (G3996) is rare, ten verses in all. Matthew 5:4 had blessed those who mourn with it; Matthew 9:15 denies it of the wedding party; Mark 16:10 uses it of the disciples after the crucifixion, as they mourned and wept. Read together that is a striking arc, and it is one reason we do not tier this higher: Mark 16:10 belongs to the longer ending of Mark, which is absent from Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus and whose authenticity is disputed. The Matthew 5:4 half of the link stands on the Verifier’s shared lexeme; the Mark 16:10 half is flagged.

Matthew 5:4 · Mark 16:10

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G3996 πενθέω (in 10 vv, rare) for both pairs. Flagged because Mark 16:10 lies inside the disputed longer ending of Mark (absent from Sinaiticus and Vaticanus); the verbal basis is real but the provenance of one ref is contested

The Baptist’s own testimony: he that has the bride is the bridegroom verbal / quotation: confirmed

This is the thread the commentators reach for first, and it matters that the objectors are John’s own disciples. Ellicott: the words only gain their full significance when connected with the teaching of the Baptist recorded in John 3:29, where he had pointed to Jesus as “the Bridegroom.” Gill notes that John, the master of those men, had acknowledged him under this character, so that the argument came to them with the greater force. Pulpit makes the same point from the other Gospel’s side, that while he himself was the Bridegroom, the Baptist was only subordinate. The Verifier confirms the shared lexeme independently.

John 3:29

basis: Verifier pair check (Matthew 9:15 / John 3:29): shared Greek lexeme G3566 νυμφίος (in 12 vv). Both refs are Greek New Testament; no quotation formula is claimed, but the shared rare title plus the explicit appeal of Ellicott, Gill and Pulpit to John 3:29 makes the verbal link secure

The husband of the congregation (cross-Testament) typological

Pulpit records that Nosgen sees in “as long as the bridegroom is with them” a claim to be the expected Bridegroom of Israel, citing Hosea 2:19 and 20, Jeremiah 3:1 to 14, and Ezekiel 16:8; Cambridge says the Jews symbolized the congregation by the image of a bride. In those prophets the husband is the LORD himself. This is a cross-Testament link, Greek to Hebrew, so no shared Strong’s number is possible and no verbal tier can honestly be claimed: the basis is the marriage-covenant motif and the figural identification it carries. We mark it typological, and note that the reading is ancient and widely held rather than novel.

Hosea 2:19 · Hosea 2:20 · Ezekiel 16:8

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew): shared Strong's numbers are impossible between the Greek of Matthew and the Hebrew of Hosea and Ezekiel, so this is not tiered verbal. The recorded basis is the marriage-covenant motif in which the LORD is husband of the congregation, cited at this verse by Pulpit (quoting Nosgen) and by Cambridge; the figural step, that Jesus occupies that place, is ancient and widely held

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

He takes the husband’s place in the prophets’ marriage ancient/widely-held

⚙ The claim is made without argument, which is its weight. Asked about a fast day, Jesus describes the present hour as a wedding and puts himself in it as the bridegroom, and the commentators agree about what that costs. Cambridge: the Jews symbolized the congregation by the image of a bride, and Jesus sets himself forth as the Bridegroom of the Christian Church. Gill says plainly that by the bridegroom Christ means himself, and reads the church’s betrothal, espousal and consummation out of it. Ellicott adds that his disciples were at once the guests of that feast individually, and collectively the new Israel, the bride whom He had come to make His own, pointing to Matthew 22:2, Ephesians 5:25 to 27 and Revelation 19:7. Pulpit records Nosgen’s judgement that the words claim the title of the expected Bridegroom of Israel (Hosea 2:19 and 20, Ezekiel 16:8). In the prophets that husband is the LORD; here he is eating in a tax collector’s house.

John 3:29 · Hosea 2:19 · Ephesians 5:25 · Revelation 19:7

ἀπαρθῇ: the cross said first as a passive verb ancient/widely-held

⚙ The first shadow of Golgotha in Matthew’s public teaching falls inside an argument about fasting, and it falls in the voice of a verb. ἀπαρθῇ is passive: the bridegroom is lifted away, and Pulpit insists the removal is effected not by his own action but by external agents. Ellicott marks this as the first recorded intimation in our Lord’s public teaching of His coming death; Cambridge, independently, says for the first time Jesus alludes to His death. ⚙ Our own step beyond them is small and we mark it as ours: the passive is the same grammar the Servant song takes in Isaiah 53:8, quoted by the Ethiopian in Acts 8:33, where the Servant’s life is taken away from the earth by others. Matthew does not quote Isaiah here and we do not claim that he does; the resemblance is of voice and posture, not of citation.

Isaiah 53:8 · Acts 8:33

The interval, and the cry that ends it ancient/widely-held

⚙ The saying divides history at a removal and leaves the far side open. “Days will come” is the prophets’ formula for an appointed future, and the plural does not say how many. Ellicott traces the whole arc: the joy of the wedding-feast would cease, and then would come the long night of expectation, till once again there should be the cry, “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh” (Matthew 25:6). Pulpit locates the grief precisely in his absence, citing John 16:20, where sorrow is promised and then promised an end. Cambridge, more pastorally, applies it to Christian experience, that there are joyous times when the presence of Christ is felt to be near and also seasons of despondency when Christ seems to be taken away. ⚙ On our reading the Church’s fast is therefore neither penance nor merit but a posture: the guests keeping the room ready for a wedding that was interrupted and has not been cancelled.

Matthew 25:6 · John 16:20

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text: BSB (CC0) with the Berean interlinear and Strong's numbers; all parses, glosses and lexeme frequencies above come from that apparatus, and the thread bases from the Verifier's computed shared-lexeme output (plus one pair check we ran ourselves for Matthew 9:15 / John 3:29).

What is uncertain in this unit. (1) πολλά in v. 14 (“so often”) is textually contested: Pulpit reports it as read by the Textus Receptus, the versions and the mass of authorities, but probably to be omitted with Westcott and Hort on the evidence of Vaticanus and the original hand of Sinaiticus, possibly a gloss drawn from Luke's πυκνά. Note that the Pulpit text as transmitted prints “Westcott and Host,” evidently a misprint for Hort; we quote it as it stands. (2) The occasion is not certain: Cambridge says it is not quite clear whether this incident took place at Levi's feast, and only infers from Luke that it did. (3) Barnes's explanation that John's disciples were fasting because their master was in prison is inference from Matthew 11:2 and 14:12, not a statement of this text. (4) Whether v. 15 sanctions fixed fasts is disputed among our own sources: Ellicott leans to fasts at special seasons of sorrow, Pulpit notes the Didache forbids fasting on the Pharisees' days, and Benson (quoting Macknight) denies that Pharisaical fasts were to be introduced into the Church at all; Pulpit also records the later Tertullian reading of this verse as commanding the forty-hour fast. We report the disagreement rather than resolve it.

Sources used: Ellicott, Benson, Barnes, Geneva, Gill, Cambridge and Pulpit are quoted verbatim. Two entries in the brief carry no exposition for these verses and so are not quoted: JFB refers the reader to Luke 5:33-39, and Poole refers the reader to his own note on Matthew 9:17. Henry's entry is a single block covering 9:14-17 and is summarised rather than quoted. All ⚙ material is machine synthesis and fallible.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)