What Does Matthew 9:15 Mean in the King James?
And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.
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
Here, fasting is the shape absence takes when the bridegroom is gone, not a measure of devotion that stays constant in his presence.
THE MEANING
When the bridegroom is present, mourning does not fit; when he is taken away, fasting gives shape to that absence. The response changes because the relationship’s condition has changed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that sorrow and deprivation are always the truest signs of devotion: while the bridegroom is present, mourning does not fit.
THE ROOT
ἀπαρθῇ
aparthē
GROWS FROM
αἴρω
airō
lift, carry, take away
The verb is passive: the groom is removed from the companions, and the fast follows that loss. The root’s range includes lifting and carrying away, so “taken” holds a physical movement out of reach beneath the separation.
ALSO GROWS
airō: lift, carry, take away
αἴρω
Its basic sense makes the groom’s removal a movement, not merely a change in how the companions feel.
aphaireō: take away, remove
ἀφαιρέω
This related form likewise describes removal, echoing the absence that fasting marks in the verse.
νυμφίος
nymphios
GROWS FROM
νυμφ-
nymph-
the bride and the wedding bond
“Bridegroom” and “children of the bridechamber” belong to the same wedding word family. The Greek gathers the groom and those around him inside one wedding space, where his presence makes mourning incongruous.
ALSO GROWS
nymphē: bride
νύμφη
The bride is the relational counterpart contained in the bridegroom’s word family.
nymphōn: bridal chamber
νυμφών
The “children of the bridechamber” are named through the same wedding family as the bridegroom whose presence changes their response.
THE PATTERN
A fitting response changes with the moment: presence can displace mourning, while absence can give it room.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;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.And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.THE THREAD
The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.John uses the same lift-and-remove verb family: there the Lamb takes away the world’s missing (ἁμαρτία, hamartia), while here the bridegroom is removed from his companions. The shared root holds two movements together: one removal clears what is missing, and the other leaves a felt absence.
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