Mark 2:19

And Jesus said unto them ,.... Both to John's disciples and the Pharisees,

can the children of the bride chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them ? Suggesting that he was the bridegroom, as John their master had called him, John 3:29 , and that his disciples were the children of the bride chamber; and that it was very unsuitable for them, and very unreasonable to desire them to fast at such a time, and under such a character: wherefore the answer returned by Christ himself to the question is,

as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast : all which the Syriac version expresses by לא , "no": see Gill on Matthew 9:15 .