KJV: But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows,
YLT: 'And to what shall I liken this generation? it is like little children in market-places, sitting and calling to their comrades,
Darby: But to whom shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the markets, which, calling to their companions,
ASV: But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the marketplaces, who call unto their fellows
Τίνι | To what |
Parse: Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun, Dative Neuter Singular Root: τίς Sense: who, which, what. |
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δὲ | however |
Parse: Conjunction Root: δέ Sense: but, moreover, and, etc. |
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ὁμοιώσω | will I compare |
Parse: Verb, Future Indicative Active, 1st Person Singular Root: ὁμοιόω Sense: to be made like. |
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γενεὰν | generation |
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular Root: γενεά Sense: fathered, birth, nativity. |
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ταύτην | this |
Parse: Demonstrative Pronoun, Accusative Feminine Singular Root: οὗτος Sense: this. |
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ὁμοία | Like |
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Feminine Singular Root: ὅμοιος Sense: like, similar, resembling. |
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ἐστὶν | it is |
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular Root: εἰμί Sense: to be, to exist, to happen, to be present. |
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παιδίοις | little children |
Parse: Noun, Dative Neuter Plural Root: παιδίον Sense: a young child, a little boy, a little girl. |
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καθημένοις | sitting |
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Middle or Passive, Dative Neuter Plural Root: κάθημαι Sense: to sit down, seat one’s self. |
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ἀγοραῖς | markets |
Parse: Noun, Dative Feminine Plural Root: ἀγορά Sense: any assembly, especially of the people. |
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προσφωνοῦντα | calling out |
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Nominative Neuter Plural Root: προσφωνέω Sense: to call to, to address by calling. |
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τοῖς | - |
Parse: Article, Dative Neuter Plural Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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ἑτέροις | to others |
Parse: Adjective, Dative Neuter Plural Root: ἀλλοιόω Sense: the other, another, other. |
Greek Commentary for Matthew 11:16
Diminutive, little children. The Rev. Donald Fraser gives the picture simply and vividly: “He pictured a group of little children playing at make-believe marriages and funerals. First they acted a marriage procession; some of them piping as on instruments of music, while the rest were expected to leap and dance. In a perverse mood, however, these last did not respond, but stood still and looked discontented. So the little pipers changed their game and proposed a funeral. They began to imitate the loud wailing of eastern mourners. But again they were thwarted, for their companions refused to chime in with the mournful cry and to beat their breasts … .So the disappointed children complained: 'We piped unto you and ye did not dance; we wailed, and ye did not mourn. Nothing pleases you. If you don't want to dance, why don't yon mourn? … It is plain that yon are in bad humor, and determined not to be pleased'” (“Metaphors in the Gospels”). The issue is between the Jews (this generation ) and the children of wisdom, Matthew 11:19. [source]
From ἀγείρω , to assemble. Wyc., renders cheepyngecompare cheepsidethe place for buying selling; for the word cheap had originally no reference to small price, but meant simply barter or price. The primary conception in the Greek word has nothing to do with buying and selling. Ἀγορά is an assembly; thenthe place of assembly. The idea of a place of trade comes in afterward, and naturally, since trade plants itself where people habitually gather. Hence the Roman Forum was devoted, not only to popular and judicial assemblies, but to commercial purposes, especially of bankers. The idea of trade gradually becomes the dominant one in the word. In Eastern cities the markets are held in bazaars and streets, rather than in squares. In these public places the children would be found playing. Compare Zechariah 8:5. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Matthew 11:16
A timeless aorist passive (Robertson, Grammar, p. 836f.). The word “justified” means “set right” Luke (Luke 7:35) has “by all her children” as some MSS. have here to make Matthew like Luke. These words are difficult, but understandable. God‘s wisdom has planned the different conduct of both John and Jesus. He does not wish all to be just alike in everything. “This generation” (Matthew 11:16) is childish, not childlike, and full of whimsical inconsistencies in their faultfinding. They exaggerate in each case. John did not have a demon and Jesus was not a glutton or a winebibber. “And, worse than either, for πιλος philos is used in a sinister sense and implies that Jesus was the comrade of the worst characters, and like them in conduct. A malicious nickname at first, it is now a name of honour: the sinner‘s lover” (Bruce). Cf. Luke 15:2. The plan of God is justified by results. [source]
It was not the first time that Jesus had used parables, but the first time that he had spoken so many and some of such length. He will use a great many in the future as in Luke 12 to 18 and Matt. 24 and 25. The parables already mentioned in Matthew include the salt and the light (Matthew 5:13-16), the birds and the lilies (Matthew 6:26-30), the splinter and the beam in the eye (Matthew 7:3-5), the two gates (Matthew 7:13.), the wolves in sheep‘s clothing (Matthew 7:15), the good and bad trees (Matthew 7:17-19), the wise and foolish builders (Matthew 7:24-27), the garment and the wineskins (Matthew 9:16.), the children in the market places (Matthew 11:16.). It is not certain how many he spoke on this occasion. Matthew mentions eight in this chapter (the Sower, the Tares, the Mustard Seed, the Leaven, the Hid Treasure, the Pearl of Great Price, the Net, the Householder). Mark adds the Parable of the Lamp (Mark 4:21; Matthew 13:18-23), the Parable of the Seed Growing of Itself (Mark 4:26-29), making ten of which we know. But both Mark (Mark 4:33) and Matthew (Matthew 13:34) imply that there were many others. “Without a parable spake he nothing unto them” (Matthew 13:34), on this occasion, we may suppose. The word parable There are parables in the Old Testament, in the Talmud, in sermons in all ages. But no one has spoken such parables as these of Jesus. They hold the mirror up to nature and, as all illustrations should do, throw light on the truth presented. The fable puts things as they are not in nature, Aesop‘s Fables, for instance. The parable may not be actual fact, but it could be so. It is harmony with the nature of the case. The allegory John does not use the word parable, but only παροιμια paroimia a saying by the way (John 10:6; John 16:25, John 16:29). As a rule the parables of Jesus illustrate one main point and the details are more or less incidental, though sometimes Jesus himself explains these. When he does not do so, we should be slow to interpret the minor details. Much heresy has come from fantastic interpretations of the parables. In the case of the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3-8) we have also the careful exposition of the story by Jesus (Luke 8:16) as well as the reason for the use of parables on this occasion by Jesus (Matthew 13:9-17). [source]
Rightly, Rev., market-places. See on Matthew 11:16. [source]
Diminutive; little children. See on Matthew 11:16. [source]
See on Matthew 11:16. [source]
This second question is not in Matthew 11:16. It sharpens the point. The case of τινι tini is associative instrumental after ομοιοι homoioi See note on details in Matthew 11:17. [source]
Old word, diminutive of παις pais here only in N.T., not genuine in Matthew 11:16. How he came to have this small supply we do not know. Barley Adjective, here and John 6:13 only in N.T., in the papyri, from κριτη krithē barley (Revelation 6:6). Considered an inferior sort of bread. Fishes Late diminutive of οπσον opson common in papyri and inscriptions for delicacies with bread like fish. In N.T. only here, John 6:11; John 21:9-13. Synoptics have ιχτυας ichthuas f0). [source]