John 3:29
He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, who standeth and heareth Him, rejoiceth with joy because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled.
Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner, 1752)
In The King James Version
In Context
28You yourselves do bear me witness that I said that I am not Christ, but that I am sent before him.
30He must increase: but I must decrease.
Cross References
Judges 14:10So his father went down to the woman, and made a feast for his son Samson: for so the young men used to do.
Song of Solomon 3:11Go forth, ye daughters of Sion, and see king Solomon in the diadem, wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of the joy of his heart.
Song of Solomon 5:1Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat the fruit of his apple trees. I am come into my garden, O my sister, my spouse, I have gathered my myrrh, with my aromatical spices: I have eaten the honeycomb with my honey, I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends, and drink, and be inebriated, my dearly beloved. Let my beloved come into his garden, etc... Garden, mystically the church of Christ, abounding with fruit, that is, the good works of the elect.
Isaiah 62:4Thou shalt no more be called Forsaken: and thy land shall no more be called Desolate: but thou shalt be called My pleasure in her, and thy land inhabited. Because the Lord hath been well pleased with thee: and thy land shall be inhabited.
Jeremiah 2:2Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying: Thus saith the Lord: I have remembered thee, pitying thy youth, and the love of thy espousals, when thou followedst me in the desert, in a land that is not sown.
Hosea 2:19And I will espouse thee to me for ever: and I will espouse thee to me in justice, and judgment, and in mercy, and in commiserations. I will espouse thee, etc... This relates to the happy espousals of Christ with his church: which shall never be dissolved.
Matthew Henry on John 3:23-36
John's Testimony to Christ. 22 After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judæa; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. 23 And John also was baptizing in Ænon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. 24 For John was not yet cast into prison. 25 Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying. 26 And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest… Read the whole commentary →