Matthew 21:16 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Matthew 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?
to speak or say (by word or writing) · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person plural
him
αὐτῷ·autō
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative singular masculine
thou
ἀκούειςakoueis
G191
to hear (in various senses) · verb — present active indicative, 2nd person singular
what
τίti
G5101
an interrogative pronoun · interrogative pronoun — accusative singular neuter
these
οὗτοιhoutoi
G3778
the he (she or it) · demonstrative pronoun — nominative plural masculine
say
λέγουσιν;legousin
G3004
properly · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person plural
And
δὲde
G1161
but · conjunction
Jesus
ἸησοῦςIēsous
G2424
Jesus (i.e. Jehoshua) · noun — nominative singular masculine, a proper name
saith
λέγειlegei
G3004
properly · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular
them
αὐτοῖς·autois
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative plural masculine
Yea
ναί.nai
G3483
yes · particle
have ye
ἀνέγνωτεanegnōte
G314
to know again · verb — second aorist active indicative, 2nd person plural
never
οὐδέποτεoudepote
G3763
not even at any time · adverb — negative
read
ἀναγινώσκωanaginṓskō
G314
to know again
Out
ἐκek
G1537
literal or figurative · preposition
of the mouth
στόματοςstomatos
G4750
the mouth (as if a gash in the face) · noun — genitive singular neuter
of babes
νηπίωνnēpiōn
G3516
not speaking · adjective — genitive plural masculine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
sucklings
θηλαζόντωνthēlazontōn
G2337
to suckle · verb — present active participle, genitive plural masculine
thou hast perfected
κατηρτίσωkatērtisō
G2675
to complete thoroughly · verb — aorist middle indicative, 2nd person singular
praise
αἶνον;¶ainon
G136
properly · noun — accusative singular masculine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 8:2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the ave…
Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and…
Luke 19:39-40 And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples.
Matthew 12:3 But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;
Matthew 19:4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
Mark 2:25 And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him?
Matthew 22:31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,
John 11:47-48 Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
John Gill on Matthew 21:16
And said unto him, hearest thou what these say?.... Suggesting, that if he did, he ought to reprove them, or else he would be a very vain, as well as a weak man, to take such things to himself, which did not belong to him, and that from such poor, little, silly creatures, so void of knowledge and understanding:
and Jesus said unto them, yea: signifying he did hear, and well approved of what they said, and was ready to vindicate it; and did, by putting the following question to them,
have ye never read; that passage of Scripture in Psalm 8:2
out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? in the original text it is, "thou hast ordained", or "founded strength"; and which…
Matthew 21:10-22
Matthew 21:10-22
Mark 11:11-24
Luke 19:39-48
10. And when he entered into Jerusalem, the whole city was moved, saying, Who is this? 11. And the multitudes said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth in Galilee. 12. And Jesus entered into the temple of God, and drove out all that sold and bought in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of those who sold doves; 13. And said to them, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of robbers. 14. And the blind and lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them. 15. When the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful works which he did, and th…
Haven’t you ever read the Scriptures? Jesus put this penetrating question to opponents who did not perceive the fulfillment of messianic promises in his ministry. See also 12:3, 5; 19:4; 21:42; 22:31.
But (we hold the contrary): for Christ, by "accepting praise out of the mouth of babes and sucklings," has declared that neither childhood nor infancy is without sensibility, -the former of which states, when meeting Him with approving shouts, proved its ability to offer Him testimony; while the other, by being slaughtered, for His sake of course, knew what violence meant.
But the answer of Christ was cautions. He spake not what the Scribes would fain have heard, The children do well that they bear witness to me; nor on the other hand, They do what is wrong, they are but children, you ought to be indulgent to their tender years. But He brings a quotation from the eighth Psalm, that though the Lord were silent, the testimony of Scripture might defend the words of the children (Ps. 8:2) as it follows, But Jesus said unto them, Yea, have ye never read, &c.
(Verse 16.) But Jesus said to them: Of course. Have you never read that from the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have perfected praise? How moderate is this statement, and how balanced is the response, not giving in to slander? He did not say what the Scribes wanted to hear, that children do good, to testify to me, nor did he say they are mistaken: they are children, you should forgive their age; but he brings forward an example from the eighth psalm, to strengthen the testimony of the Scriptures through the words of children, when the Lord is silent.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Babe — Used of children generally (Matt. 11:25; 21:16; Luke 10:21; Rom. 2:20). It is used also of those who are weak in Christian faith and knowledge (1 Cor. 3:1; Heb. 5:13; 1 Pet. 2:2). In Isa. 3:4 the…
Child — This word has considerable latitude of meaning in Scripture. Thus Joseph is called a child at the time when he was probably about sixteen years of age (Gen. 37:3); and Benjamin is so called when he…
Babes · In the mouths of, is praise perfected — In the mouths of, is praise perfected
Children · Are capable of glorifying God — Are capable of glorifying God
Children, Good · Exemplified: Children in the Temple — Exemplified: Children in the Temple
Missionaries, All Christians Should Be As · Women and children as well as men — Women and children as well as men
Praise · Is obligatory upon: Children — Is obligatory upon: Children
Quotations And Allusions · with — with
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
