What Does Matthew 9:15 Mean?
And Jesus said to them, Can the children of the bridal chamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But days will come when the bridegroom is lifted away from them, and then they will fast.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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 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
“lifted away” in this verse is aparthē. 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
“bridal chamber” in this verse is nymphios. “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 leap.The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. So this joy of mine has been filled.And God wipes away every tear from their eyes, and there is no more death, nor mourning, nor crying, nor pain, for the first things have gone away.THE THREAD
The next day John perceived Jesus coming toward him, and said, Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the falling short 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.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us