Matthew 5:36

5:36 Do not take an oath by your head, because you are not able to make one hair white or black.

Matthew 11:17

11:17 ‘We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance; ¹ 

we wailed in mourning, ²  yet you did not weep.’

Matthew 12:7

12:7 If ³  you had known what this means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice,’ ⁴  you would not have condemned the innocent.

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¹ sn ‘We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance…’ The children of this generation were making the complaint (see vv. 18-19) 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.

² tn The verb ἐθρηνήσαμεν (eqrhnhsamen) refers to the loud wailing and lamenting used to mourn the dead in public in 1st century Jewish culture.

³ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁴ sn A quotation from Hos 6:6 (see also Matt 9:13).