1.9 KiB
Jesus concludes talking to the crowds about John the Baptist.
not eating bread
"not eating food." This can be translated "frequently fasting" or "not eating good food" (UDB). It does not mean that John never ate food.
they say, 'He has a demon'
Jesus was quoting what the people were saying about John. It can be translated as an indirect quote: “they say that he has a demon” or “they accuse him of having a demon.” (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-quotations)
they
The pronoun "they" refers to the people of that present generation (verse 16).
The Son of Man
Since Jesus expected the people there to understand that he was the Son of Man, it could also be translated as “I, the Son of Man.”
they say, 'Look, he is a gluttonous man
Jesus was quoting what the people were saying about him as the Son of Man. This can be translated as an indirect quote: “they say that he is a gluttonous man” or “they accuse him of eating too much.” If you translated “The Son of Man” as “I, the Son of man”, the indirect quote could be translated as “they say that I am a gluttonous man.”
he is a gluttonous man
“he is a greedy eater” or “he habitually eats too much food”
a drunkard
“a drunk” or “a habitual drunk”
But wisdom is justified by her deeds
This is probably a proverb that Jesus was applying to this situation, because the people who rejected both him and John were not being wise. It can be translated as an active sentence as in the UDB (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-activepassive).
wisdom is justified
This expression, where wisdom is personified, is not used here in the sense that wisdom is put right before God but in the sense that wisdom is proved right (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-personification).
her deeds
The pronoun "her" refers to the personified wisdom.