A Question About Fasting

³³ And they said to him, ^(A)“The disciples of John ^(B)fast often and ^(C)offer prayers, ^(D)and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.”

A Question About Fasting

¹⁸ Now ^(A)John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, ^(B)“Why do John's disciples and ^(C)the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁹ And Jesus said to them, ^(D)“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ^20 (E)The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and ^(F)then they will fast in that day. ²¹ No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. ²² And no one puts new wine into old ^(G)wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”^[a]

A Question About Fasting

¹⁴ Then ^(A)the disciples of John came to him, saying, ^(B)“Why do we and ^(C)the Pharisees fast,^[a] but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁵ And Jesus said to them, ^(D)“Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? ^(E)The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and ^(F)then they will fast. ¹⁶ No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. ¹⁷ Neither is new wine put into old ^(G)wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

² For I bear them witness that ^(A)they have a zeal for God, ^(B)but not according to knowledge. ³ For, being ignorant of ^(C)the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.

¹¹ And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man ^(A)of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying,

²⁵ Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over ^(A)purification.

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

³⁵ The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples,

^47 (A)who devour widows' houses and ^(B)for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

^12 (A)I fast twice a week; ^(B)I give tithes of all that I get.’