Luke 7:25

What ¹  did you go out to see? A man dressed in fancy ²  clothes? ³  Look, those who wear fancy clothes and live in luxury ⁴  are in kings’ courts! ⁵ 

2Sa 19:35; 1Ki 10:5; 2Ki 1:8; Es 1:3,11; Es 4:2; Es 5:1; Es 8:15; Isa 59:17; Mt 3:4; Mt 6:29; 1Pe 3:3,4

¹ tn Grk “But what.” Here ἀλλά (alla, a strong contrastive in Greek) produces a somewhat awkward sense in English, and has not been translated. The same situation occurs at the beginning of v. 26.

² tn Or “soft”; see L&N 79.100.

³ sn The reference to fancy clothes makes the point that John was not rich or powerful, in that he did not come from the wealthy classes.

⁴ tn See L&N 88.253, “to revel, to carouse, to live a life of luxury.”

⁵ tn Or “palaces.”