¹⁶ “To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:

¹⁸ For John came neither eating^(A) nor drinking,^(B) and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ ¹⁹ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’^(C) But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”

²⁹ Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors^(A) and others were eating with them. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect^(B) complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”^(C)

³¹ Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”^(D)

Jesus Questioned About Fasting^(E)

³³ They said to him, “John’s disciples^(F) often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”

³⁴ Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom^(G) fast while he is with them? ³⁵ But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them;^(H) in those days they will fast.”

³¹ Jesus went on to say, “To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? ³² They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other:

³³ For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine,^(A) and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ ³⁴ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’^{(B) 35} But wisdom is proved right by all her children.”

¹² In a loud voice they were saying: