Luke 5:34

34 So he said to them, "You are not able to make the {bridegroom's attendants} fast as long as the bridegroom is with them, [are you]?

Luke 5:34 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 5:34

And he said unto them
The disciples of John, or the Scribes and Pharisees:

can ye make the children of the bride chamber fast, while the
bridegroom is with them?
signifying, that he was the bridegroom, and his disciples the children of the bride chamber; and that as it is unreasonable to expect, and morally impossible, that persons, attending the festivals of a nuptial solemnity, should be engaged in severe fastings; so it was not to be thought, that whilst Christ was corporeally present with his disciples, that they should be prevailed upon to live such an austere and mortified life.

Luke 5:34 In-Context

32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."

33 And they said to him, "The disciples of John fast often and make prayers--likewise also the [disciples] of the Pharisees--but yours are eating and drinking!"

34 So he said to them, "You are not able to make the {bridegroom's attendants} fast as long as the bridegroom is with them, [are you]?

35 But days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days."

36 And he also told a parable to them: "No one tears a patch from a new garment [and] puts [it] on an old garment. Otherwise, he will have torn the new also, and the old will not match the patch [that is] from the new.

Footnotes

• [a]. *Literally "the"; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
• [b]. Some manuscripts have "So Jesus said"
• [c]. Literally "sons of the bridal chamber"
• [d]. *The negative construction in Greek anticipates a negative answer here, indicated in the translation by the phrase "[are you]"