What Does Luke 7:31 Mean?
And the Lord said, To what then shall I liken the people of this generation? What are they like?
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like?THE KEY
The same Greek likeness-family appears in both halves of the question: the comparison that fits a people reveals the kind of people they are.
THE MEANING
The question asks what likeness describes the people around you and what their shared responses reveal. It holds the comparison open for a moment, making the image that follows a mirror for the present reader.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It unsettles the belief that a generation is only an age group: shared time alone does not describe a people; their common responses give them a recognizable likeness.
THE ROOT
ὁμοιώσω
homoiōsō
GROWS FROM
ὁμοιόω (homoioō), stem ὁμοι-
To make like or compare; likeness and resemblance.
“liken / like” in this verse is homoiōsō. The verb “liken” and the adjective “like” belong to the same Greek word family. The question moves from choosing a comparison to recognizing a likeness already visible in the people’s responses.
ALSO GROWS
hómoios: Like, similar.
ὅμοιος
The adjective form names the resemblance the question is asking us to see.
homoíōsis: Likeness, resemblance.
ὁμοίωσις
This related noun appears in James 3:9, where language of likeness describes humanity in relation to God.
homoíōma: Likeness, form, image.
ὁμοίωμα
This branch shows how the same word family can name the form through which a likeness becomes recognizable.
γενεᾶς
geneas
GROWS FROM
γεν-
gen-
A word family centered on birth, coming into being, kind, and lineage.
The Greek word for “generation” can point to people living at the same time, and its word family also carries the sense of kind or lineage. The question “what are they like?” draws attention to the shared character that makes a people recognizable.
ALSO GROWS
genos: Kind, stock, lineage.
γένος
This related word makes the sense of a recognizable kind audible within the idea of a generation.
génesis: Birth, origin, coming into being.
γένεσις
It connects the word family to what comes into being, not just to a span of time.
gennaō: Beget, give birth.
γεννάω
This verb carries the family’s generative sense and helps illuminate why “generation” can suggest lineage.
THE PATTERN
A people become recognizable through the likeness revealed in their shared responses.
They are like children sitting in the marketplace, calling to one another, and saying, We piped for you, and you did not dance; we wailed for you, and you did not weep.Those who make them are like them, everyone who leans on them.Do not take the shape of this age, but be reshaped by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test what is the good, well-pleasing, and complete will of God.THE THREAD
They are like children sitting in the marketplace, calling to one another, and saying, We piped for you, and you did not dance; we wailed for you, and you did not weep.The next verse answers the question with ὅμοιοι (homoioi, “like”), from the same Greek word family as “liken” in verse 31. The repeated root turns the question into a frame: the comparison reveals the likeness already present in the people’s response.
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