Bible Strands
Luke 7:32
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.’
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus addresses the crowds and religious leaders immediately after posing a comparison question in Luke 7:31. He introduces the illustration to explain their simultaneous rejection of John the Baptist's asceticism and His own communal feasting.
The words — The Greek term ὅμοιοί (homoioi) literally means "like" or "similar to," establishing the simile that follows. The participle καθημένοις (kathēmenois) means "sitting," depicting the children's stationary posture in the agora.
The thread — Matthew 11:16 records the identical marketplace children illustration. Jeremiah 5:3 parallels the textual pattern of an audience that refuses to react to divine warning despite direct engagement.
Why it lands — The text states that the audience rejected both solemn and joyful approaches regardless of the messenger's method. It requires readers to identify their own unyielding resistance to God's appointed messengers before judging their motives.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Matthew 11:16 To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:
- Proverbs 17:16 Why should the fool have money in his hand with no intention of buying wisdom?
- Jeremiah 5:3 O 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.
- Isaiah 28:9 Whom is He trying to teach? To whom is He explaining His message? To infants just weaned from milk? To babies removed from the breast?
- Isaiah 29:11 And 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.”
- Zechariah 8:5 And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing there.”