They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to one another: ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’
Parallel translations
- WEB They are like children who sit in the marketplace, and call to one another, saying, ‘We piped to you, and you didn’t dance. We mourned, and you didn’t weep.’
- KJV They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept.
- NKJV They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, saying: ‘We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; We mourned to you, And you did not weep.’
- NASB They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a song of mourning, and you did not weep.’
- NLT They are like children playing a game in the public square. They complain to their friends, ‘We played wedding songs, and you didn’t dance, so we played funeral songs, and you didn’t weep.’
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
Jesus likens that generation to sulking children who refuse to respond whether others pipe or mourn. They reject every approach God makes to them.
Overview
The petulant children who will neither dance to joyful piping nor weep at mourning picture a generation that rejects both John's austerity and Jesus' joy. Their fault lies not in the message but in their own hard hearts. Such willful unbelief refuses God's overtures however they come, an indictment of those who resist His grace.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Matt 11:16–19To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:
- Jer 5:3–5O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.
- Prov 17:16Why should the fool have money in his hand with no intention of buying wisdom?
- Isa 28:9–13Whom is He trying to teach? To whom is He explaining His message? To infants just weaned from milk? To babies removed from the breast?
- Isa 29:11–12And the entire vision will be to you like the words sealed in a scroll. If it is handed to someone to read, he will say, “I cannot, because it is sealed.”
- Zech 8:5And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing there.”
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 7:32 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
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