A bride-groom (literally or figuratively)
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Νυμφίος (nymphios) means bridegroom, the man entering or joined in marriage. Jesus identifies His presence with the bridegroom at a wedding feast, explaining why His disciples do not fast while He is with them and why fasting will become fitting when He is taken away.
Reader summary
Full entry for νυμφίος (G3566) · Open the biblical lexicon
Νυμφίος (nymphios) means bridegroom, the man entering or joined in marriage. Jesus identifies His presence with the bridegroom at a wedding feast, explaining why His disciples do not fast while He is with them and why fasting will become fitting when He is taken away.
The BSB source-word alignment has 16 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include bridegroom (9), [He] (3), [He is] (1), [the] bridegroom (1), bridegroom [aside] (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 9:15. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (6), John (4), Mark (3), Luke (2).
Νυμφίος (nymphios) means bridegroom, the man entering or joined in marriage. Jesus identifies His presence with the bridegroom at a wedding feast, explaining why His disciples do not fast while He is with them and why fasting will become fitting when He is taken away. The image places joy, messianic presence, coming loss, and future longing within one redemptive sequence.
At Cana, the banquet master calls the ordinary bridegroom after tasting the superior wine Jesus supplied, so not every occurrence is a title for Christ. Revelation announces that bride and bridegroom voices will disappear from Babylon, making the loss of wedding joy part of the city's irreversible judgment. The referent and setting determine whether the noun names Jesus, a historical groom, or the social joy removed from a condemned city.
Νυμφίος names a bridegroom. Jesus uses the role for His messianic presence and removal, Cana includes an ordinary groom, and Revelation portrays wedding voices silenced in fallen Babylon.
Jesus replied, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while He is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
Jesus compares His presence to the bridegroom with wedding guests, making joy fitting now and fasting fitting when He is taken away.
Jesus replied, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while He is with them? As long as He is with them, they cannot fast.
Mark emphasizes that guests cannot fast while the bridegroom remains with them, locating religious practice under the event of Jesus' presence.
Jesus replied, “Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while He is with them?
Luke's question asks whether anyone can force wedding guests to fast, exposing the mismatch between imposed mourning and the bridegroom's present joy.
And the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not know where it was from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside
At Cana, the banquet master calls the human bridegroom and credits him with unexpectedly excellent wine whose true source the servants know.
The light of a lamp will never shine in you again, and the voices of a bride and bridegroom will never call out in you again. For your merchants were the great ones of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery.”
Babylon will never again hear bride and bridegroom voices, so ordinary celebration vanishes with the city's commerce, deception, and violence.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. Bridegroom; in Gospels, Christ's self-designation emphasizing his covenant union with the Church as bride
Bridegroom; in Gospels, Christ's self-designation emphasizing his covenant union with the Church as bride
(νύμφη), [in LXX for חָתָן ;] a bridegroom: Mat.9:15 25:1, 5-6 25:10, Mrk.2:19-20, Luk.5:34-35, Jhn.2:9 3:29, Rev.18:23.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a bridegroom
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Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 3 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 5 selected witnesses from 16 lexical occurrence verses.
νυμφίος is built from this root:
Identifies Jesus with Yahweh’s covenantal bridegroom imagery.
Identifies Jesus with covenantal divine imagery.
Reveals Jesus’ messianic identity and covenant role.Luke 5:33–39
The bridegroom image orders spiritual practice around Jesus Himself. His disciples do not imitate another group's fasting schedule mechanically because the messianic bridegroom is present and the moment calls for joy. Yet Jesus also announces that He will be taken away, introducing the sorrow of the cross and a season in which fasting can express longing. Cana reminds readers that νυμφίος remains ordinary marriage vocabulary; the unaware groom receives public credit while Jesus quietly supplies abundance.
Revelation turns wedding sound into a measure of communal life. When Babylon falls, voices of bride and groom cease because exploitative splendor cannot sustain true joy. Churches should celebrate Christ's presence, fast with gospel-shaped longing, honor ordinary marriage, and refuse the corrupt economies whose judgment removes every song.
Matt.9.15
Νυμφίος is the noun for bridegroom or groom. The article and speaker identify whether it names an ordinary wedding participant or functions metaphorically for Jesus.
Prophets compare covenant joy to bride and bridegroom, Jesus claims the bridegroom role, and Revelation contrasts Babylon's silenced weddings with the Lamb's marriage.