What Does Luke 5:34 Mean in the King James?
And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The companions’ season is defined by the bridegroom’s presence: fasting would miss the wedding joy already around them.
THE MEANING
This verse places you among the bridegroom’s companions: his presence makes this a wedding season, when fasting does not fit. The moment takes its shape from who is present; absence will mark a different time.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that spiritual seriousness requires fasting in every season. Here, fasting during the bridegroom’s presence would misread the moment.
THE ROOT
νυμφῶνος
nymphōnos
GROWS FROM
νυμφ-
nymph-
The shared Greek word base carries the sense of bride and wedding.
“Children of the bridechamber” is literally “sons of the bridal chamber”: the phrase identifies the companions by the wedding space they share. The same νυμφ- (nymph-, bride/wedding) base names the bride, the bridal chamber, and the bridegroom, so the verse’s logic rests on a whole wedding scene, not simply on a meal.
ALSO GROWS
nýmphē: bride
νύμφη
The bridal chamber takes its name from the bride; the companions belong to the occasion centered on her wedding.
nýmphios: bridegroom
νυμφίος
The verse names the bridegroom from the same wedding word family, making his presence the reason fasting does not fit.
THE PATTERN
The fitting response changes with the season: a wedding calls for rejoicing, while other times hold different responses.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.THE THREAD
But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.Luke 5:35 repeats νυμφίος (nymphios, bridegroom), the same word family at the heart of this verse. It makes the contrast explicit: while he is with them, they do not fast; when he is taken away, the season changes.
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