Luke 5:34

New Century Version

Jesus said to them, "You cannot make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is still with them.

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
Jesus said to them, "At a wedding you can't ask the friends of the bridegroom to be sad and fast while he is still with them.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And he sayde vnto them: Can ye make ye chyldren of the weddinge fast as longe as ye brydgrome is present with the?

Hebrew Names Version
He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast, while the bridegroom is with them?

International Standard Version
But Jesus said to them, "You can't force the wedding guests to fast while the groom is still with them, can you?

New American Standard Bible
And Jesus said to them, "You cannot make the attendants of the groom fast while the groom is with them, can you?

Update Bible Version
And Jesus said to them, Can you make the sons of the bride-chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?

Webster's Bible Translation
And he said to them, Can ye make the children of the bride-chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?

Amplified Bible
Jesus said to them, "Can you make the wedding guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?

English Standard Version
And Jesus said to them, "Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?

World English Bible
He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast, while the bridegroom is with them?

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And he said to them, Can ye make the children of the bride-chamber fast, while the bride-groom is with them?

Weymouth's New Testament
"Can you compel the bridal party to fast," replied Jesus, "so long as they have the bridegroom among them?

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
To whiche he seide, Whether ye moun make the sones of the spouse to faste, while the spouse is with hem?

English Revised Version
And Jesus said unto them, Can ye make the sons of the bride-chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?

Berean Standard Bible
Jesus replied, "Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while He is with them?

Contemporary English Version
Jesus told them, "The friends of a bridegroom don't go without eating while he is still with them.

American Standard Version
And Jesus said unto them, Can ye make the sons of the bride-chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?

Bible in Basic English
And Jesus said, Are you able to make the friends of the newly-married man go without food when he is with them?

Complete Jewish Bible
Yeshua said to them, "Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is still with them?

Darby Translation
And he said to them, Can ye make the sons of the bridechamber fast when the bridegroom is with them?

Etheridge Translation
But he said to them, How can you make the sons of the chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them ?

Murdock Translation
And he said to them: Ye cannot make the guests of the nuptial chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them.

King James Version (1611)
And he said vnto them, Can yee make the children of the Bride-chamber fast, while the Bridegrome is with them?

New Living Translation
Jesus responded, "Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not.

New Life Bible
Jesus answered them, "Can the friends at a wedding be sorry when the man just married is with them?

New Revised Standard
Jesus said to them, "You cannot make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you?

Geneva Bible (1587)
And he said vnto them, Can ye make the children of the wedding chamber to fast, as long as the bridegrome is with them?

George Lamsa Translation
He said to them, You cannot make the sons of the wedding feast fast, so long as the bridegroom is with them.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Jesus, however, said unto them - Can, ye make, the sons of the bridechamber, fast, while the bridegroom is with them?

Douay-Rheims Bible
To whom he said: Can you make the children of the bridegroom fast whilst the bridegroom is with them?

Revised Standard Version
And Jesus said to them, "Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
He sayde vnto them. Can ye make the chyldren of the weddyng chaumber fast, whyle the brydegrome in with the?

Good News Translation
Jesus answered, "Do you think you can make the guests at a wedding party go without food as long as the bridegroom is with them? Of course not!

Christian Standard Bible®
Jesus said to them, “You can’t make the wedding guests fast while the groom is with them, can you?

King James Version
And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?

Lexham English Bible
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?

Literal Translation
But He said to them, You are not able to make the sons of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is with them.

Young's Literal Translation
And he said unto them, `Are ye able to make the sons of the bride-chamber -- in the bridegroom being with them -- to fast?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And he sayde vnto them: Can ye make the weddynge childre fast, so loge as the brydegrome is with the?

Mace New Testament (1729)
to which he answered, would you have the bridemen fast, while the bridegroom is with them?

THE MESSAGE
Jesus said, "When you're celebrating a wedding, you don't skimp on the cake and wine. You feast. Later you may need to pull in your belt, but this isn't the time. As long as the bride and groom are with you, you have a good time. When the groom is gone, the fasting can begin. No one throws cold water on a friendly bonfire. This is Kingdom Come!

New English Translation
So Jesus said to them, "You cannot make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you?

New King James Version
And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?

Simplified Cowboy Version
Jesus answered, "If you're invited to a wedding, the groom doesn't ask his guests to go without.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
And Jesus said to them, "You cannot make the attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you?

Legacy Standard Bible
And Jesus said to them, "Can you make the attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?

Contextual Overview

²⁷ After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax collector's booth. Jesus said to him, "Follow me!" ²⁸ So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him. ²⁹ Then Levi gave a big dinner for Jesus at his house. Many tax collectors and other people were eating there, too. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the men who taught the law for the Pharisees began to complain to Jesus' followers, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" ³¹ Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy people who need a doctor, but the sick. ³² I have not come to invite good people but sinners to change their hearts and lives." ³³ They said to Jesus, "John's followers often fast for a certain time and pray, just as the Pharisees do. But your followers eat and drink all the time." ³⁴ Jesus said to them, "You cannot make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is still with them. ³⁵ But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast." ³⁶ Jesus told them this story: "No one takes cloth off a new coat to cover a hole in an old coat. Otherwise, he ruins the new coat, and the cloth from the new coat will not be the same as the old cloth.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the children: Judges 14:10, Judges 14:11, Psalms 45:14, Song of Solomon 2:6, Song of Solomon 2:7, Song of Solomon 3:10, Song of Solomon 3:11, Song of Solomon 5:8, Song of Solomon 6:1, Matthew 25:1-10, Revelation 19:7-9

bridegroom: Psalms 45:10-16, Isaiah 54:5, Isaiah 62:5, Zephaniah 3:17, Matthew 22:2, John 3:29, 2 Corinthians 11:2, Ephesians 5:25-27

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See this passage illustrated in the notes at Matthew 9:14-17.

Luke 5:39

Having drunk old wine ... - Wine increases its strength and flavor, and its mildness and mellowness, by age, and the old is therefore preferable. They who had tasted such mild and mellow wine would not readily drink the comparatively sour and astringent juice of the grape as it came from the press. The meaning of this proverb in this place seems to be this: You Pharisees wish to draw my disciples to the “austere” and “rigid” duties of the ceremonial law - to fasting and painful rites; but they have come under a milder system. They have tasted the gentle and tender blessings of the gospel; they have no “relish” for your stern and harsh requirements. To insist now on their observing them would be like telling a man who had tasted of good, ripe, and mild wine to partake of that which is sour and unpalatable. At the proper time all the sterner duties of religion will be properly regarded; but “at present,” to teach them to fast when they see “no occasion” for it - when they are full of joy at the presence of their Master - would be like putting a piece of new cloth on an old garment, or new wine into old bottles, or drinking unpleasant wine after one had tasted that which was more pleasant. It would be ill-timed, inappropriate, and incongruous.