Mark 2:19

19 And Jesus said to them, Whether the sons of the spousals be able to fast [Whether the sons of the weddings may fast], as long as the spouse is with them? As long time as they have the spouse with them, they be not able to fast [they may not fast].

Mark 2:19 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 2:19

And Jesus said unto them
Both to John's disciples and the Pharisees,

can the children of the bride chamber fast, while the bridegroom is
with them?
Suggesting that he was the bridegroom, as John their master had called him, ( John 3:29 ) , and that his disciples were the children of the bride chamber; and that it was very unsuitable for them, and very unreasonable to desire them to fast at such a time, and under such a character: wherefore the answer returned by Christ himself to the question is,

as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast:
all which the Syriac version expresses by (al) , "no": (See Gill on Matthew 9:15).

Mark 2:19 In-Context

17 When this was heard, Jesus said to them, Whole men have no need to a physician, but they that be evil-at-ease [This thing heard, Jesus saith to them, Whole men have no need to a leech, but they that have evil]; for I came not to call just men, but sinners.
18 And the disciples of John and the Pharisees were fasting; and they came, and said to him, Why fast the disciples of John, and the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? [And the disciples of John and the Pharisees were fasting; and they came, and say to him, Why the disciples of John and of Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not?]
19 And Jesus said to them, Whether the sons of the spousals be able to fast [Whether the sons of the weddings may fast], as long as the spouse is with them? As long time as they have the spouse with them, they be not able to fast [they may not fast].
20 But days shall come, when the spouse shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast in those days.
21 No man seweth a patch of new cloth to an old cloak [to an old cloth], else he taketh away [else it taketh away] the new patch from the old, and a more breaking is made.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.