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Parables · 15 of 45

Children in the Marketplace

In Galilee

Matthew 11:16–19

2 accounts of this passage

Matthew 11:16–19

16"What can I compare this generation to? They're like children sitting in the marketplace, calling out to each other, 17'We played music for you, and you didn't dance! We sang funeral songs, and you didn't mourn!' 18For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a devil.' 19The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look at him—a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' But wisdom is justified by her children.

Read Matthew 11

About this passage

What the parable says

Jesus compared the people of his day to children in the marketplace who complain that others would not dance when they played the flute, or mourn when they sang a sad song. John came fasting, and they said he had a demon. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they called him a glutton and a friend of sinners.

Where this fits

One of 45 passages in Jesus' Parables, in the group “In Galilee.”

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