Matthew 25:1-13
25:1 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
25:2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
25:3 When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them;
25:4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.
25:5 As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept.
25:6 But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’
25:7 Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps.
25:8 The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
25:9 But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’
25:10 And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut.
25:11 Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’
25:12 But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’
25:13 Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
[1] Τότε ὁμοιωθήσεται ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν δέκα παρθένοις, αἵτινες λαβοῦσαι τὰς λαμπάδας αὐτῶν ἐξῆλθον εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ νυμφίου.
[2] πέντε δὲ ἦσαν ἐξ αὐτῶν φρόνιμοι καὶ αἱ πέντε μωραί.
[3] αἵτινες μωραὶ λαβοῦσαι τὰς λαμπάδας ἑαυτῶν οὐκ ἔλαβον μεθ᾿ ἑαυτῶν ἔλαιον·
[4] αἱ δὲ φρόνιμοι ἔλαβον ἔλαιον ἐν τοῖς ἀγγείοις αὐτῶν μετὰ τῶν λαμπάδων αὐτῶν.
[5] χρονίζοντος δὲ τοῦ νυμφίου ἐνύσταξαν πᾶσαι καὶ ἐκάθευδον.
[6] μέσης δὲ νυκτὸς κραυγὴ γέγονεν· ἰδοὺ ὁ νυμφίος ἔρχεται, ἐξέρχεσθε εἰς ἀπάντησιν αὐτοῦ.
[7] τότε ἠγέρθησαν πᾶσαι αἱ παρθένοι ἐκεῖναι καὶ ἐκόσμησαν τὰς λαμπάδας αὐτῶν.
[8] αἱ δὲ μωραὶ ταῖς φρονίμοις εἶπον· δότε ἡμῖν ἐκ τοῦ ἐλαίου ὑμῶν, ὅτι αἱ λαμπάδες ἡμῶν σβέννυνται.
[9] ἀπεκρίθησαν δὲ αἱ φρόνιμοι λέγουσαι· μήποτε οὐκ ἀρκέσῃ ἡμῖν καὶ ὑμῖν· πορεύεσθε δὲ μᾶλλον πρὸς τοὺς πωλοῦντας καὶ ἀγοράσατε ἑαυταῖς.
[10] ἀπερχομένων δὲ αὐτῶν ἀγοράσαι ἦλθεν ὁ νυμφίος καὶ αἱ ἕτοιμοι εἰσῆλθον μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ εἰς τοὺς γάμους, καὶ ἐκλείσθη ἡ θύρα.
[11] ὕστερον δὲ ἔρχονται καὶ αἱ λοιπαὶ παρθένοι λέγουσαι· κύριε κύριε, ἄνοιξον ἡμῖν.
[12] ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν· ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, οὐκ οἶδα ὑμᾶς.
[13] γρηγορεῖτε οὖν, ὅτι οὐκ οἴδατε τὴν ἡμέραν οὐδὲ τὴν ὥραν ἐν ᾗ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἔρχεται.
Comments
A parable about ten nubile women with ceramic lamps (λαμπάδες). The alarming cry in the present tense ‘The bridegroom is coming’ (v. 6) is succeeded by the present as eschatological future ‘The Son of Man is coming/ will come’ (v. 13). Night is a time of surprises. For lamps in the time of Jesus in the Roman world, see A. Wilson, ‘Roman nightlife’, in La nuit imaginaire et réalités nocturnes dans le mode Gréco-Romain, Fondation Hardt, Vandoeuvres, 2018, esp. pp. 63-5.
[1] παρθένοις… νυμφίου: παρθένος, ἡ = ‘maiden, girl’ (already in Homer & prose:LSJ); here = ‘young unmarried woman’ (cf. EDNT s.v., p. 40).
Νυμφίος, ὁ, ‘bridegroom’ (in poetry already in Homer & prose).
[2] φρόνιμοι καὶ αἱ πέντε μωραί: φρόνιμος, adj., ‘prudent’ (cl. Gk). Μωρός, μωρά, μωρόν, adj., ‘dull, stupid’ (cl. Gk: LSJ). Cf. Engl. moron. (In modern Gk μωρό, τό = ‘infant, baby’.) The Engl. tr. ‘foolish’ sounds less harsh. Five wise vs five foolish young women form a neat antithesis.
[5] χρονίζοντος δὲ τοῦ νυμφίου ἐνύσταξαν: χρονίζω, intr., ‘I take time, tarry’ (cl. Gk). The part. χρονίζοντος is a gen. absol. of cause. Νυστάζω, esp. in pres., ‘I am half asleep, doze’ (cl. Gk: LSJ), ‘nod off’. (In the light of Chantraine’s etymology it would seem that the vb is etymologically related to the Εngl. colloquial ‘snooze’.)
[6] μέσης δὲ νυκτὸς κραυγὴ γέγονεν· ἰδοὺ ὁ νυμφίος ἔρχεται: μέσης δὲ νυκτὸς, gen. absol. of time, ‘in the middle of the night’.
κραυγὴ γέγονεν: κραυγή, ἡ, ‘crying, screaming, shouting’, rarely a shout of joy (cl. Gk: LSJ). This sentence (‘there arose a cry, there was a cry’) can be paralleled in the classical orator Lysis 13.71, κραυγὴ γίγνεται (cited in LSJ s.v. κραυγή).
ἰδοὺ ὁ νυμφίος ἔρχεται: the shout is quoted verbatim; ἰδοὺ is an interjection that gives dramatic point in oral speech, the equivalent of ‘look here’, ‘behold’, aha, ‘voilá’(Montanari), and the Hebrew hinneh הִנֵּה.
The word is attested in classical Greek, but esp. freq. in the LXX and NT; of all NT authors, Matthew and Luke use this word most often (Matth. 62 times, Luke 57). As for the grammar: ἰδοὺ < εἴδω (an unrecorded vb = ‘to see’): ἰδοὺ is the 2nd pers. sg. imperative of εἰδόμην, 2nd aorist, middle voice. This imperative is used absolutely, i.e. without an obj., It is has an adverbial force, and can also be classified as a ‘demonstrative particle’ (EDNT)—i.e. a deictic word that points to something of note or signals another stage in the narrative.
[9] μήποτε οὐκ ἀρκέσῃ ἡμῖν καὶ ὑμῖν: a clause of fear can be introduced by the combined μή οr μήποτε + οὐ (‘lest not’). ὁρᾶτε (‘beware’) or some equivalent vb of caution is implied.
[13] γρηγορεῖτε οὖν: γρηγορῶ (έω), a Hellenistic vb (< pf. ἐγρήγορα), ΄I am awake; am vigilant’ (EDNT). οὖν, a conjunction/particle, signals a logical inference.
οὐκ οἴδατε τὴν ἡμέραν οὐδὲ τὴν ὥραν ἐν ᾗ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἔρχεται: ἔρχεται, ‘comes, is coming’, present tense with a future sense: ‘You do not know the day or hour in which the Son of Man will come.’ In cl. Gk poetry this type of present was used in prophecy and generally in predictions in prose, e.g. Thucydides 6.91. (Cf. Engl. ‘If this happens, you’re in trouble.’) A theologian might call this an ‘eschatological present’.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 