Daily Bible Nugget #625, Matthew 21:16

The Nugget:

Mat 21:16  And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? (KJV)

Mat 21:16  They said to him, “Do you hear what these children are saying?” Jesus replied, “Yes, I do. Have you never read, ‘From the mouths of little children and infants, you have created praise’?” (God’s Word translation)

Mat 21:16 Have you any idea what these are saying? And Jesus said to them, Yes: have you not seen in the Writings, From the lips of children and babies at the breast you have made your praise complete? (Basic English Bible)

Mat 21:16 And said to him: “Do you hear what these boys are saying?” “Yes,” answered Jesus; “but did you never read the words–‘Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast called forth perfect praise’?” (Twentieth Century New Testament)

The Context:

Mat 21:12 Jesus went into the temple and chased out everyone who was selling or buying. He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and the benches of the ones who were selling doves.
Mat 21:13 He told them, “The Scriptures say, ‘My house should be called a place of worship.’ But you have turned it into a place where robbers hide.”
Mat 21:14 Blind and lame people came to Jesus in the temple, and he healed them.
Mat 21:15 But the chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses were angry when they saw his miracles and heard the children shouting praises to the Son of David.
Mat 21:16 The men said to Jesus, “Don’t you hear what those children are saying?” “Yes, I do!” Jesus answered. “Don’t you know that the Scriptures say, ‘Children and infants will sing praises’?”
Mat 21:17 Then Jesus left the city and went out to the village of Bethany, where he spent the night. (Contemporary English Version)

Cross-Reference Study:

Matthew 21:16

Hearest. Psa 20:9, *Luk 19:39; *Luk 19:40, *Joh 11:47; *Joh 11:48, *Act 4:16, 17, 18.

have ye never read. Mat 21:42, Mat 4:7; +Mat 12:3 note, Mat 12:5; Mat 19:4; Mat 21:42; Mat 22:31, Mar 2:25; Mar 12:10, *Luk 6:3.

Out. FS92A, +Mat 1:23, Note,—This Psalm is applied to Christ also in 1Co 15:27; Eph 1:22; Heb 2:6 (De Burgh). *Mat 11:25, *>Psa 8:2.

babes. +*Mat 11:25, +Luk 9:47; Luk 10:21, 1Co 1:27, 28, 29.

and sucklings. FS174, +Gen 18:27, 2Ti 3:15.

perfected. or, prepared. 1Co 1:27.

My Comment:

Notice that it was the children who recognized who Jesus is, while the adult religious leaders had nothing but criticism about what was going on.

Jesus implicitly criticized the religious leaders for their obtuseness by challenging them with a question in return, asking if they had never read the Scriptures! Then, as now, too often they have not.