¹⁵ And Jesus said to them, ^(A)“Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? ^(B)The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and ^(C)then they will fast.

⁹ And the angel said^[a] to me, “Write this: ^(A)Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, ^(B)“These are the true words of God.”

^29 (A)The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. ^(B)The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, ^(C)rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.

² And I saw ^(A)the holy city, ^(B)new Jerusalem, ^(C)coming down out of heaven from God, ^(D)prepared ^(E)as a bride adorned for her husband.

²³ And when they had ^(A)appointed ^(B)elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting ^(C)they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Barnabas and Saul Sent Off

13 Now there were in the church at Antioch ^(A)prophets and ^(B)teachers, ^(C)Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger,^[a] Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of ^(D)Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. ² While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, ^(E)the Holy Spirit said, ^(F)“Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul ^(G)for the work to which I have called them.” ³ Then after fasting and ^(H)praying they laid their hands on them and ^(I)sent them off.

²⁰ Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(A)you will weep and lament, but ^(B)the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but ^(C)your sorrow will turn into joy. ^21 (D)When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. ^22 (E)So also you have sorrow now, but ^(F)I will see you again, and ^(G)your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.

The Parable of the Ten Virgins

25 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ^(A)ten virgins who took their lamps^[a] and went to meet ^(B)the bridegroom.^{[b] 2} Five of them were foolish, and five were ^(C)wise. ³ For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, ⁴ but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. ⁵ As the bridegroom ^(D)was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. ⁶ But ^(E)at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ ⁷ Then all those virgins rose and ^(F)trimmed their lamps. ⁸ And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ ⁹ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ ¹⁰ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and ^(G)those who were ready went in with him to ^(H)the marriage feast, and ^(I)the door was shut.

^5 (A)Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, ^(B)so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.