Wise and Foolish Virgins. The Parable of the Ten Virgins, also known as the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins or the Parable of the ten bridesmaids, is one of the well known parables of Jesus. According to the Gospel of Matthew 25:1-13, the five virgins who are prepared for the bridegroom's arrival are rewarded, while the five who are not prepared are disowned. The parable has a clear eschatological theme: be prepared for the Day of Judgment. It was one of the most popular parables in the Middle Ages, with enormous influence on Gothic art, sculpture and the architecture of German and French cathedrals. In the Parable of the Ten Virgins, Jesus tells a story about a party of virgins, perhaps bridesmaids or torchbearers for a procession, chosen to participate in a wedding. Each of the ten virgins is carrying a lamp or torch as they await the coming of the bridegroom, which they expect at some time during the night. Five of the virgins are wise and have brought oil for their lamps. Five are foolish and have only brought their lamps. At midnight, all the virgins hear the call to come out to meet the bridegroom. Realising their lamps have gone out, the foolish virgins ask the wise ones for oil, but they refuse, saying that there will certainly not be enough for them to share. While the foolish virgins are away trying to get more oil, the bridegroom arrives. The wise virgins then accompany him to the celebration. The others arrive too late and are excluded. Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. Those who were foolish, when they took their lamps, took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. Now while the bridegroom delayed, they all slumbered and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, Behold! The bridegroom is coming! Come out to meet him! Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But 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. While they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins also came, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered, Most certainly I tell you, I don't know you. Watch therefore, for you don't know the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming; Matthew 25:1-13, World English Bible The parable is one of a sequence of responses to a question in Matthew 24:3: And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?; Matthew 24:3, King James Version Other parables in this sequence include the parable of the budding fig tree and the parable of the Faithful Servant. The parable of the Ten Virgins reinforces the call for readiness in the face of the uncertain time of this second coming. It has been described as a watching parable. Like the parable of the Lost Coin, it is a parable about women which immediately follows, and makes the same point as, a preceding parable about men. In this parable, Jesus Christ is the bridegroom, echoing the Old Testament image of God as the bridegroom in Jeremiah 2:2 and similar passages. The awaited event is the Second Coming of Christ. R. T. France writes that the parable is a warning addressed specifically to those inside the professing church who are not to assume that their future is unconditionally assured. The parable does not criticise the virgins for sleeping, since both groups do that, but for being unprepared as they brought no oil. The parable is not written in praise of virginity, and indeed Louis of Granada, in his The Sinner's Guide of 1555, writes No one makes intercession with the Bridegroom for the five foolish virgins who, after despising the pleasures of the flesh and stifling in their hearts the fire of concupiscence, nay, after observing the great counsel of virginity, neglected the precept of humility and became inflated with pride on account of their virginity. Spencer W. Kimball gave an LDS perspective on the difference between the wise and the foolish virgins, and why they could not share the oil: This was not selfishness or unkindness. The kind of oil that is needed to illuminate the way and light up the darkness is not shareable.