For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil.
Parallel translations
- WEB For John the Baptizer came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’
- BSB For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’
- NKJV For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’
- NASB For John the Baptist has come neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’
- NLT For John the Baptist didn’t spend his time eating bread or drinking wine, and you say, ‘He’s possessed by a demon.’
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
John came in fasting austerity, and they accused him of having a demon. They rejected his ministry by slandering his self-denial.
Overview
John's ascetic lifestyle should have marked him as a holy prophet, yet critics dismissed him as demon-possessed. Their objection reveals not honest concern but a determination to reject God's messenger. This illustrates the generation's perverse refusal to receive God's call, no matter its form.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Luke 1:15For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.
- Mark 1:6And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey;
- Jer 16:8–10Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.
- Matt 3:4And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
- John 10:20And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?
- John 8:48Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?
- John 8:52Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.
- Acts 2:13Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
- Matt 10:25It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?
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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 7:33 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.