Luke 7:31-32

7:31 “To what then should I compare the people ¹  of this generation, and what are they like? 7:32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to one another, ² 

‘We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance; ³ 

we wailed in mourning, ⁴  yet you did not weep.’

[7:31]  ¹ tn Grk “men,” but this is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"). The comparison that follows in vv. 32-34 describes “this generation,” not Jesus and John.

[7:32]  ² tn Grk “They are like children sitting…and calling out…who say.”

[7:32]  ³ sn ‘We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance…’ The children of this generation were making the complaint (see vv. 33-34) 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.

[7:32]  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.