Luke 5:33
Then they said to Him, “John’s disciples and those of the Pharisees frequently fast and pray, but Yours keep on eating and drinking.”
BSB
Parallel translations (2) ▾
ASV
And they said unto him, The disciples of John fast often, and make supplications; likewise also the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink.
KJV
And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink?
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Commentary
1 voiceVoices on this verse
loading…Hebraic traditional view
Levi's feast and the old wine
Levi “made him a great feast in his own house,” and the objection came at the guest list: the Pharisaic table discipline meant an observant associate did not eat with the non-observant, whose food might be untithed and whose vessels unclean, and tax collectors stood furthest outside the circle of trust: the Mishnah rules a house unclean if tax collectors have entered it (Taharot 7:6), and even permits declaring untruths to them under duress, classing them with robbers (Nedarim 3:4). The table Jesus chose was a boundary deliberately crossed: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” The fuller table-and-fasting background is in this site's Matthew 9 note.
Luke alone keeps the last saying: “No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.” Spoken at a Jewish table about Jewish devotion, it is a gracious word, not a sneer: Jesus knows exactly why the old ways taste right to those formed by them, even as He announces something new that will not fit the old wineskins.
Sources: Mishnah Taharot 7:6 (tax collectors and the unclean house) · Mishnah Nedarim 3:4 (vows made to tax collectors)
Original language & word study
24 tagged words| Original | Transliteration | Meaning | Word study |
|---|---|---|---|
| οἱ | hoi | <the> | G3588 → |
| δὲ | de | And | G1161 → |
| εἶπαν | eipan | they said | G2036 → |
| πρὸς | pros | to | G4314 → |
| αὐτόν· | auton | Him; | G846 → |
| οἱ | hoi | The | G3588 → |
| μαθηταὶ | mathētai | disciples | G3101 → |
| Ἰωάννου | Iōannou | of John | G2491 → |
| νηστεύουσιν | nēsteuousin | fast | G3522 → |
| πυκνὰ | pukna | often | G4437 → |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → |
| δεήσεις | deēseis | prayers | G1162 → |
| ποιοῦνται, | poiountai | make, | G4160 → |
| ὁμοίως | homoiōs | likewise | G3668 → |
| καὶ | kai | also | G2532 → |
| οἱ | hoi | those | G3588 → |
| τῶν | tōn | of the | G3588 → |
| Φαρισαίων, | Pharisaiōn | Pharisees, | G5330 → |
| οἱ | hoi | those | G3588 → |
| δὲ | de | however | G1161 → |
| σοὶ | soi | of You | G4771 → |
| ἐσθίουσιν | esthiousin | eat | G2068 → |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → |
| πίνουσιν.¶ | pinousin | drink. | G4095 → |
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