Matthew 11:16-17

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.’

[11:16]  ¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[11:16]  ² tn Grk “who call out to one another, saying.” The participle λέγουσιν (legousin) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[11:17]  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.

[11:17]  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.