11:16 “To 1 what should I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to one another, 2
11:17 ‘We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance; 3
we wailed in mourning, 4 yet you did not weep.’
11:18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ 5 11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him, 6 a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors 7 and sinners!’ 8 But wisdom is vindicated 9 by her deeds.” 10
11:20 Then Jesus began to criticize openly the cities 11 in which he had done many of his miracles, because they did not repent. 11:21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! 12 Woe to you, Bethsaida! If 13 the miracles 14 done in you had been done in Tyre 15 and Sidon, 16 they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 11:22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you! 11:23 And you, Capernaum, 17 will you be exalted to heaven? 18 No, you will be thrown down to Hades! 19 For if the miracles done among you had been done in Sodom, it would have continued to this day. 11:24 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for the region of Sodom 20 on the day of judgment than for you!”
1 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
2 tn Grk “who call out to one another, saying.” The participle λέγουσιν (legousin) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.
3 sn ‘We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance…’ The children of this generation were making the complaint (see vv. 18-19) that others were not playing the game according to the way they played the music. John and Jesus did not follow “their tune.” Jesus’ complaint was that this generation wanted things their way, not God’s.
4 tn The verb ἐθρηνήσαμεν (eqrhnhsamen) refers to the loud wailing and lamenting used to mourn the dead in public in 1st century Jewish culture.
5 sn John the Baptist was too separatist and ascetic for some, and so he was accused of not being directed by God, but by a demon.
6 tn Grk “Behold a man.”
7 sn See the note on tax collectors in 5:46.
8 sn Neither were they happy with Jesus (the Son of Man), even though he was the opposite of John and associated freely with people like tax collectors and sinners. Either way, God’s messengers were subject to complaint.
9 tn Or “shown to be right.”
10 tc Most witnesses (B2 C D L Θ Ë1 33 Ï lat) have “children” (τέκνων, teknwn) here instead of “deeds” (ἔργων, ergwn), but since “children” is the reading of the parallel in Luke 7:35, scribes would be motivated to convert the less colorful “deeds” into more animate offspring of wisdom. Further, ἔργων enjoys support from א B* W (Ë13) as well as early versional and patristic support.
11 tn The Greek word here is πόλις (polis) which can be translated “city” or “town.” “Cities” was chosen here to emphasize the size of the places Jesus’ mentions in the following verses.
12 sn Chorazin was a town of Galilee that was probably fairly small in contrast to Bethsaida and is otherwise unattested. Bethsaida was declared a polis by the tetrarch Herod Philip, sometime after
13 tn This introduces a second class (contrary to fact) condition in the Greek text.
14 tn Or “powerful deeds.”
15 map For location see Map1-A2; Map2-G2; Map4-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.
16 sn Tyre and Sidon are two other notorious OT cities (Isa 23; Jer 25:22; 47:4). The remark is a severe rebuke, in effect: “Even the sinners of the old era would have responded to the proclamation of the kingdom, unlike you!”
17 sn Capernaum was a town on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, 680 ft (204 m) below sea level. It was a major trade and economic center in the North Galilean region.
18 tn The interrogative particle introducing this question expects a negative reply.
19 sn In the OT, Hades was known as Sheol. It is the place where the unrighteous will reside (Luke 10:15; 16:23; Rev 20:13-14).
20 sn The allusion to Sodom, the most wicked of OT cities from Gen 19:1-29, shows that to reject the current message is even more serious, and will result in more severe punishment, than the worst sins of the old era. The phrase region of Sodom is in emphatic position in the Greek text.