Matthew 9:15

9:15 Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests ¹  cannot mourn while the bridegroom ²  is with them, can they? But the days ³  are coming when the bridegroom will be taken from them, ⁴  and then they will fast.

Matthew 22:2

22:2 “The kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.

Psalms 45:9-11

45:9 Princesses ⁵  are among your honored guests, ⁶ 

your bride ⁷  stands at your right hand, wearing jewelry made with gold from Ophir. ⁸ 

45:10 Listen, O princess! ⁹ 

Observe and pay attention! ¹⁰ 

Forget your homeland ¹¹  and your family! ¹² 

45:11 Then ¹³  the king will be attracted by ¹⁴  your beauty.

After all, he is your master! Submit ¹⁵  to him! ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 54:5

54:5 For your husband is the one who made you –

the Lord who commands armies is his name.

He is your protector, ¹⁷  the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁸ 

He is called “God of the entire earth.”

Isaiah 62:4-5

62:4 You will no longer be called, “Abandoned,”

and your land will no longer be called “Desolate.”

Indeed, ¹⁹  you will be called “My Delight is in Her,” ²⁰ 

and your land “Married.” ²¹ 

For the Lord will take delight in you,

and your land will be married to him. ²² 

62:5 As a young man marries a young woman,

so your sons ²³  will marry you.

As a bridegroom rejoices over a bride,

so your God will rejoice over you.

Mark 2:19-20

2:19 Jesus ²⁴  said to them, “The wedding guests ²⁵  cannot fast while the bridegroom ²⁶  is with them, can they? ²⁷  As long as they have the bridegroom with them they do not fast. 2:20 But the days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken from them, ²⁸  and at that time ²⁹  they will fast.

Luke 5:34-35

5:34 So ³⁰  Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the wedding guests ³¹  fast while the bridegroom ³²  is with them, can you? ³³  5:35 But those days are coming, and when the bridegroom is taken from them, ³⁴  at that time ³⁵  they will fast.”

John 3:29

3:29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly ³⁶  when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. This then is my joy, and it is complete. ³⁷ 

John 3:2

3:2 came to Jesus ³⁸  at night ³⁹  and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs ⁴⁰  that you do unless God is with him.”

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ⁴¹  brothers and sisters ⁴²  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ⁴³  from God our Father! ⁴⁴ 

Ephesians 5:25-33

5:25 Husbands, love your ⁴⁵  wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her 5:26 to sanctify her by cleansing her ⁴⁶  with the washing of the water by the word, 5:27 so that he ⁴⁷  may present the church to himself as glorious – not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. ⁴⁸  5:28 In the same way ⁴⁹  husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 5:29 For no one has ever hated his own body ⁵⁰  but he feeds it and takes care of it, just as Christ also does the church, 5:30 for we are members of his body. ⁵¹  5:31 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become ⁵²  one flesh. ⁵³  5:32 This mystery is great – but I am actually ⁵⁴  speaking with reference to Christ and the church. 5:33 Nevertheless, ⁵⁵  each one of you must also love his own wife as he loves himself, ⁵⁶  and the wife must ⁵⁷  respect ⁵⁸  her husband.

Revelation 19:7

19:7 Let us rejoice ⁵⁹  and exult

and give him glory,

because the wedding celebration of the Lamb has come,

and his bride has made herself ready.

Revelation 21:2

21:2 And I saw the holy city – the new Jerusalem – descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband.

Revelation 21:9

The New Jerusalem Descends

21:9 Then ⁶⁰  one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven final plagues came and spoke to me, ⁶¹  saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb!”

[9:15]  ¹ tn Grk “sons of the wedding hall,” an idiom referring to wedding guests, or more specifically friends of the bridegroom present at the wedding celebration (L&N 11.7).

[9:15]  ² sn The expression while the bridegroom is with them is an allusion to messianic times (John 3:29; Isa 54:5-6; 62:4-5; 4 Ezra 2:15, 38).

[9:15]  ³ tn Grk “days.”

[9:15]  ⁴ sn The statement the bridegroom will be taken from them is a veiled allusion by Jesus to his death, which he did not make explicit until the incident at Caesarea Philippi in 16:13ff.

[45:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “daughters of kings.”

[45:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “valuable ones.” The form is feminine plural.

[45:9]  ⁷ tn This rare Hebrew noun apparently refers to the king’s bride, who will soon be queen (see Neh 2:6). The Aramaic cognate is used of royal wives in Dan 5:2-3, 23.

[45:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “a consort stands at your right hand, gold of Ophir.”

[45:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “daughter.” The Hebrew noun בת (“daughter”) can sometimes refer to a young woman in a general sense (see H. Haag, TDOT 2:334).

[45:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “see and turn your ear.” The verb רָאָה (ra’ah, “see”) is used here of mental observation.

[45:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “your people.” This reference to the “people” of the princess suggests she was a foreigner. Perhaps the marriage was arranged as part of a political alliance between Israel (or Judah) and a neighboring state. The translation “your homeland” reflects such a situation.

[45:10]  ¹² tn Heb “and the house of your father.”

[45:11]  ¹³ tn After the preceding imperatives, the jussive verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive is best understood as introducing a purpose (“so that the king might desire your beauty”) or result clause (see the present translation and cf. also NASB). The point seems to be this: The bride might tend to be homesick, which in turn might cause her to mourn and diminish her attractiveness. She needs to overcome this temptation to unhappiness and enter into the marriage with joy. Then the king will be drawn to her natural beauty.

[45:11]  ¹⁴ tn Or “desire.”

[45:11]  ¹⁵ tn Or “bow down.”

[45:11]  ¹⁶ sn Submit to him. The poet here makes the point that the young bride is obligated to bring pleasure to her new husband. Though a foreign concept to modern western culture, this was accepted as the cultural norm in the psalmist’s day.

[54:5]  ¹⁷ tn Or “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[54:5]  ¹⁸ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[62:4]  ¹⁹ tn Or “for”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “but.”

[62:4]  ²⁰ tn Hebrew חֶפְצִי־בָהּ (kheftsi-vah), traditionally transliterated “Hephzibah” (so KJV, ASV, NIV).

[62:4]  ²¹ tn Hebrew בְּעוּלָה (bÿ’ulah), traditionally transliterated “Beulah” (so KJV, ASV, NIV).

[62:4]  ²² tn That is, the land will be restored to the Lord’s favor and once again enjoy his blessing and protection. To indicate the land’s relationship to the Lord, the words “to him” have been supplied at the end of the clause.

[62:5]  ²³ tc The Hebrew text has “your sons,” but this produces an odd metaphor and is somewhat incongruous with the parallelism. In the context (v. 4b, see also 54:5-7) the Lord is the one who “marries” Zion. Therefore several prefer to emend “your sons” to בֹּנָיִךְ (bonayikh, “your builder”; e.g., NRSV). In Ps 147:2 the Lord is called the “builder of Jerusalem.” However, this emendation is not the best option for at least four reasons. First, although the Lord is never called the “builder” of Jerusalem in Isaiah, the idea of Zion’s children possessing the land does occur (Isa 49:20; 54:3; cf. also 14:1; 60:21). Secondly, all the ancient versions support the MT reading. Thirdly, although the verb בָּעַל (ba’al) can mean “to marry,” its basic idea is “to possess.” Consequently, the verb stresses a relationship more than a state. All the ancient versions render this verb “to dwell in” or “to dwell with.” The point is not just that the land will be reinhabited, but that it will be in a relationship of “belonging” to the Israelites. Hence a relational verb like בָּעַל is used (J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 2:581). Finally, “sons” is a well-known metaphor for “inhabitants” (J. de Waard, Isaiah, 208).

[2:19]  ²⁴ tn Grk “And Jesus.”

[2:19]  ²⁵ tn Grk “sons of the wedding hall,” an idiom referring to wedding guests, or more specifically, friends of the bridegroom present at the wedding celebration (L&N 11.7).

[2:19]  ²⁶ sn The expression while the bridegroom is with them is an allusion to messianic times (John 3:29; Isa 54:5-6; 62:4-5; 4 Ezra 2:15, 38).

[2:19]  ²⁷ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “can they?”).

[2:20]  ²⁸ sn The statement the bridegroom will be taken from them is a veiled allusion by Jesus to his death, which he did not make explicit until the incident at Caesarea Philippi in 8:27ff. (cf. 8:31; 9:31; 10:33).

[2:20]  ²⁹ tn Grk “then on that day.”

[5:34]  ³⁰ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate that Jesus’ pronouncement is a result of their statements about his disciples.

[5:34]  ³¹ tn Grk “the sons of the wedding hall,” an idiom referring to guests at the wedding, or more specifically, friends of the bridegroom present at the wedding celebration (L&N 11.7).

[5:34]  ³² sn The expression while the bridegroom is with them is an allusion to messianic times (John 3:29; Isa 54:5-6; 62:4-5; 4 Ezra 2:15, 38).

[5:34]  ³³ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here it is “can you?”).

[5:35]  ³⁴ sn The statement when the bridegroom is taken from them is a veiled allusion by Jesus to his death, which he did not make explicit until the incident at Caesarea Philippi in 9:18ff.

[5:35]  ³⁵ tn Grk “then in those days.”

[3:29]  ³⁶ tn Grk “rejoices with joy” (an idiom).

[3:29]  ³⁷ tn Grk “Therefore this my joy is fulfilled.”

[3:2]  ³⁸ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ³⁹ tn Or “during the night.”

[3:2]  ⁴⁰ sn The reference to signs (σημεῖα, shmeia) forms a link with John 2:23-25. Those people in Jerusalem believed in Jesus because of the signs he had performed. Nicodemus had apparently seen them too. But for Nicodemus all the signs meant is that Jesus was a great teacher sent from God. His approach to Jesus was well-intentioned but theologically inadequate; he had failed to grasp the messianic implications of the miraculous signs.

[1:2]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ⁴² tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ⁴³ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ⁴⁴ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.

[5:25]  ⁴⁵ tn The Greek article has been translated as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[5:26]  ⁴⁶ tn The direct object “her” is implied, but not found in the Greek text. It has been supplied in the English translation to clarify the sense of the passage.

[5:27]  ⁴⁷ tn The use of the pronoun αὐτός (autos) is intensive and focuses attention on Christ as the one who has made the church glorious.

[5:27]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “but in order that it may be holy and blameless.”

[5:28]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “So also.”

[5:29]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “flesh.”

[5:30]  ⁵¹ tc Most Western witnesses, as well as the majority of Byzantine mss and a few others (א² D F G Ψ 0278 0285^vid Ï lat), add the following words to the end of the verse: ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐκ τῶν ὀστέων αὐτοῦ (ek th" sarko" autou kai ek twn ostewn autou, “of his body and of his bones”). This is a (slightly modified) quotation from Gen 2:23a (LXX). The Alexandrian text is solidly behind the shorter reading (Ì⁴⁶ א* A B 048 33 81 1739* 1881 pc). Although it is possible that an early scribe’s eye skipped over the final αὐτοῦ, there is a much greater likelihood that a scribe added the Genesis quotation in order to fill out and make explicit the author’s incomplete reference to Gen 2:23. Further, on intrinsic grounds, it seems unlikely that the author would refer to the physical nature of creation when speaking of the “body of Christ” which is spiritual or mystical. Hence, as is often the case with OT quotations, the scribal clarification missed the point the author was making; the shorter reading stands as original.

[5:31]  ⁵² tn Grk “the two shall be as one flesh.”

[5:31]  ⁵³ sn A quotation from Gen 2:24.

[5:32]  ⁵⁴ tn The term “actually” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied in the English translation to bring out the heightened sense of the statement.

[5:33]  ⁵⁵ tn The translation of πλήν (plhn) is somewhat difficult in this context, though the overall thrust of the argument is clear. It could be an adversative idea such as “but,” “nevertheless,” or “however” (see NIV, NASB, NRSV), or it could simply be intended to round out and bring to conclusion the author’s discussion. In this latter case it could be translated with the use of “now” (so A. T. Lincoln, Ephesians [WBC], 384).

[5:33]  ⁵⁶ tn Grk “Nevertheless, you also, one by one, each his own wife so let him love as himself.” This statement is cumbersome and was cleaned up to reflect better English style.

[5:33]  ⁵⁷ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause was taken as imperatival, i.e., “let the wife respect….”

[5:33]  ⁵⁸ tn The Greek verb φοβέομαι (fobeomai) here has been translated “respect” and the noun form of the word, i.e., φόβος (fobos), has been translated as “reverence” in 5:21.

[19:7]  ⁵⁹ tn This verb and the next two verbs are hortatory subjunctives (giving exhortations).

[21:9]  ⁶⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[21:9]  ⁶¹ tn Grk “with me.” The translation “with me” implies that John was engaged in a dialogue with the one speaking to him (e.g., Jesus or an angel) when in reality it was a one-sided conversation, with John doing all the listening. For this reason, μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ (met’ emou, “with me”) was translated as “to me.” See also v. 15.