OET interlinear LUKE 7:31

7:31

To what, then, can I compare the men of this generation? What are they like?: In the Greek text these two questions are connected as one rhetorical question. For example:

To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? (ESV)

Notice that Jesus answered the questions himself in 7:32a. He used the rhetorical questions to introduce the statement about “the people of this generation” in 7:32–34. There are two ways to translate these rhetorical questions:

• As one or more questions. For example:

  How can I describe the people of this generation? What are they like? (REB)

  To what then should I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? (NET)

• As one or more statements. For example:

  This is how I will compare the men of this generation. This is what they are like.

• As a combination of questions and statements. For example:

  So what comparison can I use to describe this generation? I will tell you what they are like.

The two questions have almost the same meaning. Jewish people often used this kind of repetition, and it may add some emphasis to what Jesus asks. If it is not easy or natural in your language to ask two different yet similar questions here, you could combine them:

What illustration/comparison can I use to show what the people of today are like?

7:31a

then: The Greek conjunction oun that the BSB translates as then means “therefore.” It introduces a conclusion of the statements in 29–30. The Jewish religious leaders had rejected John (7:30), so in 7:31–35, Jesus could compare them to children who cannot be satisfied. Connect 7:31a to what comes before it in a way that is natural in your language.

compare: To compare means to say that one thing is like another. Jesus answered his question in 7:32 by giving a simile or short parable (“they are like…”). So another way to express this question is:

What illustration/parable can I use to show what the people of this generation are like?

the men of this generation: The phrase the men of this generation refers to Jewish people who lived in the same period of time as John and Jesus. It does not refer to a specific age group. In this context, the word generation refers specifically to people who rejected John and Jesus and their message. Some of these people were the Pharisees and experts in the law who were mentioned in 7:30. The term also implies that Jesus disapproved of the attitudes and actions of those people.Most commentators agree that the sense here is clearly negative. Not all commentators who interpret the sense as negative agree that it refers only to a subset of “all the people.” Bock (p. 679), for example, says, “It seems clear that Jesus is describing the majority response in his rebuke.” Others such as Stein (p. 232) would limit the referent to those who “oppose Jesus and the gospel and who stand in contrast to the sons of light.” Marshall in his treatment of the phrase gives a good listing of NT examples of “generation” that carry the negative nuance and of the OT passages and language (“a perverse and wicked generation,” Deuteronomy 32:5; “a stubborn and rebellious generation,” Psalm 78:8) that may be the basis for this. If this interpretation of the phrase is correct, it may draw from the meaning of γενεὰ as “the descendants of a common ancestor” (see Friberg, meaning 1; Thayer, meaning 2). If this is the sense, it would refer to the Jewish race, and in particular, the Jewish race with their habitual tendency to reject God’s messengers.

Some ways to translate this are:

• Translate the word in a neutral way and let the context express disapproval. For example:

  people of this day/time

  people who are living now (GW)

  many of these people who heard John and me

• Translate it in a way that expresses Jesus’ disapproval of those people who rejected him and John. For example:

  these people who reject God’s messengers

  the people who reject John and me

Some of the people that Jesus was speaking to were part of the generation that he referred to. In some languages it may be more natural to indicate that explicitly (as Jesus did in 7:33–34). For example:

What are you people like? (CEV)

men: In this context, the Greek word that the BSB translates as men refers to people in general, including both men and women. For that reason, most English versions, even literal ones such as the ESV and NASB, translate it as “people.”

7:31b

What are they like?: As in 7:31a, Jesus was referring to some of the people who were listening to him. If you indicated that explicitly in 7:31a, it will probably be natural to continue to do that here. For example:

What kind of people are you? (CEV)