The Meaning of Matthew 11:16 Explained

Matthew 11:16

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

KJV Reverse Interlinear

But  whereunto  shall I liken  this  generation?  It is  like  unto children  sitting  in  the markets,  and  calling  unto their  fellows, 

What does Matthew 11:16 Mean?

Context Summary

Matthew 11:11-19 - The Last Of The Prophets
The least in a higher dispensation has great advantages over the greatest in a lower one. A child on a hill can see farther than a giant in the valley. Many have tried to right the world by violence, by the vehemence of their speech and acts. But it is not so that the Kingdom comes. Its weapon is not the sword, but the cross. Its advent is not as the thunder shower, but as the summer dew or the opening of the dawn.
Our Lord truly estimated the temper of His age. It was fickle, changeable, and hard to please; but beneath its evident superficiality there was a substratum of rock. They refused John because of his austerity, and they refused Jesus because of His human kindness and gentleness. Never trim your sails for the world's breath. The breeze springs up and soon dies away. Do God's will!
O sinful brother and sister, can we ever estimate enough the assurance that Jesus is the friend of our souls? He does not disown, withdraw, or reproach. He knows what our temptations are, and makes allowances, and loves us steadfastly forever. [source]

Chapter Summary: Matthew 11

1  John sends his disciples to Jesus
7  Jesus' testimony concerning John
16  The perverse judgment of the people concerning the Son
20  Jesus upbraids Korazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum;
25  and praising his Father's wisdom in revealing the Gospel to the simple,
28  he calls to him those who are weary and burdened

Greek Commentary for Matthew 11:16

Children [παιδίοις]
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]
Market-places [ἀγοραῖς]
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

Matthew 11:19 Wisdom is justified by her works [εδικαιωτη απο των εργων αυτης]
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]
Matthew 13:3 Many things in parables [πολλα εν παραβολαις]
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; Luke 8:16), 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 (Matthew 13:18-23) as well as the reason for the use of parables on this occasion by Jesus (Matthew 13:9-17). [source]
Mark 6:56 In the streets [ἀγοραῖς]
Rightly, Rev., market-places. See on Matthew 11:16. [source]
Luke 7:32 Children [παιδίοις]
Diminutive; little children. See on Matthew 11:16. [source]
Luke 7:32 Market-place []
See on Matthew 11:16. [source]
Luke 7:31 And to what are they like? [και τινι εισιν ομοιοι]
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]
John 6:9 A lad here [παιδαριον ωδε]
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]

What do the individual words in Matthew 11:16 mean?

To what however will I compare the generation this Like it is little children sitting in the markets and calling out - to others
Τίνι δὲ ὁμοιώσω τὴν γενεὰν ταύτην ὁμοία ἐστὶν παιδίοις καθημένοις ἐν ταῖς ἀγοραῖς προσφωνοῦντα τοῖς ἑτέροις

Τίνι  To  what 
Parse: Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun, Dative Neuter Singular
Root: τίς  
Sense: who, which, what.
δὲ  however 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: δέ  
Sense: but, moreover, and, etc.
ὁμοιώσω  will  I  compare 
Parse: Verb, Future Indicative Active, 1st Person Singular
Root: ὁμοιόω  
Sense: to be made like.
γενεὰν  generation 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: γενεά  
Sense: fathered, birth, nativity.
ταύτην  this 
Parse: Demonstrative Pronoun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: οὗτος  
Sense: this.
ὁμοία  Like 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: ὅμοιος  
Sense: like, similar, resembling.
ἐστὶν  it  is 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: εἰμί  
Sense: to be, to exist, to happen, to be present.
παιδίοις  little  children 
Parse: Noun, Dative Neuter Plural
Root: παιδίον  
Sense: a young child, a little boy, a little girl.
καθημένοις  sitting 
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Middle or Passive, Dative Neuter Plural
Root: κάθημαι  
Sense: to sit down, seat one’s self.
ἀγοραῖς  markets 
Parse: Noun, Dative Feminine Plural
Root: ἀγορά  
Sense: any assembly, especially of the people.
προσφωνοῦντα  calling  out 
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Nominative Neuter Plural
Root: προσφωνέω  
Sense: to call to, to address by calling.
τοῖς  - 
Parse: Article, Dative Neuter Plural
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
ἑτέροις  to  others 
Parse: Adjective, Dative Neuter Plural
Root: ἀλλοιόω 
Sense: the other, another, other.