Matthew 11:14-16

New English Translation

¹⁴And if you are willing to accept it,^[a] he is Elijah, who is to come. ¹⁵The one who has ears had better listen!^[b]

¹⁶“To^[c] what should I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces^[d] who call out to one another,^[e]

Matthew 11:14 sn Why might one of Jesus’ hearers not be willing to accept this? Because John’s role as Elijah, forerunner of the Messiah, has been interrupted by his imprisonment, and will be even more disrupted by his execution. Although Jesus does not state it here, similar difficulties will arise in his own case since his role as Messiah will appear to be derailed by his arrest and execution on a Roman cross (Luke 24:19-21).
Matthew 11:15 tn The translation “had better listen!” captures the force of the third person imperative more effectively than the traditional “let him hear,” which sounds more like a permissive than an imperative to the modern English reader. This was Jesus’ common expression to listen and heed carefully (cf. Matt 13:9, 43; Mark 4:9, 23; Luke 8:8; 14:35).
Matthew 11:16 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
Matthew 11:16 sn The marketplaces (Greek agora) were not only places of trade and commerce in the first century Greco-Roman world. They were places of discussion and dialogue (the “public square”), places of judgment (courts held session there), places for idle people and those seeking work, and places for children to play.
Matthew 11:16 tn Grk “who call out to one another, saying.” The participle λέγουσιν (legousin) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

New English Translation (NET)