Matthew 11:15-17
New English Translation
15 The one who has ears had better listen![a]
16 “To[b] what should I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces[c] who call out to one another,[d]
17 ‘We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance;[e]
we wailed in mourning,[f] yet you did not weep.’
Footnotes
- Matthew 11:15 tn The translation “had better listen!” captures the force of the third person imperative more effectively than the traditional “let him hear,” which sounds more like a permissive than an imperative to the modern English reader. This was Jesus’ common expression to listen and heed carefully (cf. Matt 13:9, 43; Mark 4:9, 23; Luke 8:8; 14:35).
- Matthew 11:16 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
- Matthew 11:16 sn The marketplaces (Greek agora) were not only places of trade and commerce in the first century Greco-Roman world. They were places of discussion and dialogue (the “public square”), places of judgment (courts held session there), places for idle people and those seeking work, and places for children to play.
- Matthew 11:16 tn Grk “who call out to one another, saying.” The participle λέγουσιν (legousin) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.
- Matthew 11:17 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.
- Matthew 11:17 tn Or “we sang a lament” (cf. BDAG 458 s.v. θρηνέω 2). In context, however, it appears the verb ἐθρηνήσαμεν (ethrēnēsamen) refers to the loud wailing and lamenting used to mourn the dead in public in 1st century Jewish culture (BDAG 458 s.v. 3, “to mourn for someone in ritual fashion”).
Matthew 11:15-17
New International Version
15 Whoever has ears, let them hear.(A)
16 “To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:
17 “‘We played the pipe for you,
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
and you did not mourn.’
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