And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
Parallel translations
- WEB The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
- KJV And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
- BSB The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
- NASB But the foolish virgins said to the prudent ones, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’
- NLT Then the five foolish ones asked the others, ‘Please give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out.’
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The foolish beg oil from the wise because their lamps are going out. Borrowed readiness fails at the decisive moment.
Overview
The foolish discover too late that they lack what they need and cannot produce it themselves. Their request reveals that true spiritual readiness cannot be transferred from another at the final hour. Each person must be personally prepared to meet Christ. The verse exposes the emptiness of a faith that has no inward reality.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Prov 13:9The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out.
- Luke 12:35“Let your waist be dressed and your lamps burning.
- Heb 4:1Let us fear therefore, lest perhaps anyone of you should seem to have come short of a promise of entering into his rest.
- Rev 3:9Behold, I give some of the synagogue of Satan, of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
- Matt 13:20–21What was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word, and immediately with joy receives it;
- Prov 20:20Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in blackness of darkness.
- Prov 4:18–19But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light, that shines more and more until the perfect day.
- Job 21:17“How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out, that their calamity comes on them, that God distributes sorrows in his anger?
- Luke 8:18Be careful therefore how you hear. For whoever has, to him will be given; and whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he thinks he has.”
- Luke 16:24He cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.’
- Job 8:13–14So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless man shall perish,
- Job 18:5“Yes, the light of the wicked shall be put out, The spark of his fire shall not shine.
- Matt 3:9Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
- Acts 8:24Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that none of the things which you have spoken happen to me.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 25:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.