The Son of Man, on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!’
Parallel translations
- WEB The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man, and a drunkard; a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
- KJV The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!
- BSB The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at this glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
- NKJV The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
- NASB The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a heavy drinker, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
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
The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they called Him a glutton, drunkard, and friend of sinners. They rejected Jesus' ministry as readily as John's.
Overview
Jesus' joyful fellowship with sinners, the opposite of John's asceticism, drew the opposite slander. The contradictory complaints expose that the critics will accept no messenger from God. Yet the very charge, 'friend of sinners,' unwittingly proclaims the glory of the gospel: Jesus came to seek and save the lost.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Luke 15:2The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.”
- Luke 7:36One of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him. He entered into the Pharisee’s house, and sat at the table.
- Matt 9:11When the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
- Luke 19:7When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, “He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner.”
- Luke 14:1When he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching him.
- John 12:2So they made him a supper there. Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him.
- Luke 11:37Now as he spoke, a certain Pharisee asked him to dine with him. He went in, and sat at the table.
- John 2:2Jesus also was invited, with his disciples, to the marriage.
- Luke 5:29Levi made a great feast for him in his house. There was a great crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining with them.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 7:34 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.