^7:33For John the Baptist has come¹¹⁶ eating no bread and drinking no wine,¹¹⁷ and you say, ‘He has a demon!’¹¹⁸^7:34The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him,¹¹⁹ a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’¹²⁰

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Footnotes

113 Grk “They are like children sitting … and calling out … who say.”
114 ‘We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance …’ The children of this generation were making the complaint (see vv. 33–34) 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.
115 The verb ἐθρηνήσαμεν (ethrēnēsamen) refers to the loud wailing and lamenting used to mourn the dead in public in 1st century Jewish culture.
116 The perfect tenses in both this verse and the next do more than mere aorists would. They not only summarize, but suggest the characteristics of each ministry were still in existence at the time of speaking.
117 Grk “neither eating bread nor drinking wine,” but this is somewhat awkward in contemporary English.
118 John the Baptist was too separatist and ascetic for some, and so he was accused of not being directed by God, but by a demon.
119 Grk “Behold a man.”
120 Neither were they happy with Jesus (the Son of Man), even though he was the opposite of John and associated freely with people like tax collectors and sinners. Either way, God’s messengers were subject to complaint.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another,

“ ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;

we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’

For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

NIVNew International Version (2011)

They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other:

“ ‘We played the pipe for you,

and you did not dance;

we sang a dirge,

and you did not cry.’

For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’

CSBChristian Standard Bible

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!

For John the Baptist did not come eating bread or drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

NLTNew Living Translation

They are like children playing a game in the public square. They complain to their friends,

‘We played wedding songs,

and you didn’t dance,

so we played funeral songs,

and you didn’t weep.’

For John the Baptist didn’t spend his time eating bread or drinking wine, and you say, ‘He’s possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man, on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!’

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to one another, who say,

‘We played the flute for you and you did not dance;

we sang a lament and you did not weep.’

For John the Baptist has come not eating bread or drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a man who is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

KJV 1900King 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. For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil. The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!

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