Matthew 9:15

⁹He said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb.’” He said to me, “These are true words of God.”

²⁹He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore my joy is made full.

²I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.

²³When they had appointed elders for them in every assembly, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord on whom they had believed.

¹Now in the assembly that was at Antioch there were some prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen the foster brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. ²As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them.”

³Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

¹“Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. ²Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. ³Those who were foolish, when they took their lamps, took no oil with them, ⁴but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. ⁵Now while the bridegroom delayed, they all slumbered and slept. ⁶But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Behold! The bridegroom is coming! Come out to meet him!’ ⁷Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.^8[+] The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ ⁹But the wise answered, saying, ‘What if there isn’t enough for us and you? You go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ ¹⁰While they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the door was shut.

²⁰Most certainly I tell you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. ²¹A woman, when she gives birth, has sorrow because her time has come. But when she has delivered the child, she doesn’t remember the anguish any more, for the joy that a human being is born into the world. ²²Therefore you now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

¹⁴She shall be led to the king in embroidered work. The virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to you. ¹⁵With gladness and rejoicing they shall be led. They shall enter into the king’s palace.

⁶But because I have told you these things, sorrow has filled your heart.

¹³Behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was sixty stadia^[+] from Jerusalem. ¹⁴They talked with each other about all of these things which had happened. ¹⁵While they talked and questioned together, Jesus himself came near, and went with them. ¹⁶But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. ¹⁷He said to them, “What are you talking about as you walk, and are sad?”

¹⁸One of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things which have happened there in these days?”

¹⁹He said to them, “What things?” They said to him, “The things concerning Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people;

²⁰and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. ²¹But we were hoping that it was he who would redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.