^18 (A)John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they *came and *said to Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁹ And Jesus said to them, “While the groom is with them, ^[a]the attendants of the groom cannot fast, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰ But the ^(B)days will come when the groom is taken away from them, and then they will fast, on that day.

²¹ “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise, ^[b]the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. ²² And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”

The Question about Fasting

¹⁴ Then the disciples of John *came to Him, asking, “Why do we and ^(A)the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁵ And Jesus said to them, “The ^[a]attendants of the groom cannot mourn as long as the groom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the groom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. ¹⁶ But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for ^[b]the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. ¹⁷ Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

³³ And they said to Him, “^(A)The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do ^[a]the same, but Yours eat and drink.” ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the ^[b]attendants of the groom fast while the groom is with them, can you? ^35 (B)But the days will come; and when the groom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.” ³⁶ And He was also telling them a parable: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the patch from the new garment will not match the old. ³⁷ And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. ³⁸ But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.