Luke 7:31

An Unresponsive Generation

31 "To what then should I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like?

Luke 7:31 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 7:31

And the Lord said
This clause is not in the Syriac, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions, nor in some copies, nor in Beza's most ancient copy; and being omitted, more clearly shows, that the two former verses are the words of Christ, and not an observation the evangelist makes, on the different behaviour of Christ's hearers, upon the commendation he had given of John:

whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation;
or "to what men shall I liken them", as the Persic version: the phrase "men of this generation", is Rabbinical; so (yvwa awhh ard) , the men of that "generation", are more beautiful in work than these, says the Targumist on ( Ecclesiastes 7:11 ) . "And to what are they like?" To that which follows.

Luke 7:31 In-Context

29 (And when all the people, including the tax collectors, heard this, they acknowledged God's way of righteousness, because they had been baptized with John's baptism.

30 But since the Pharisees and experts in the law had not been baptized by him, they rejected the plan of God for themselves.)

31 "To what then should I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like?

32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to each other: We played the flute for you, but you didn't dance; we sang a lament, but you didn't weep!

33 For John the Baptist did not come eating bread or drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon!'