---
title: Matthew 11:16
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-11-16/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-11-16.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Matthew 11:16
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Matthew 11:16

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

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

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "'With whom will I compare this generation? It is like young children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to their playmates,'"

## JW Usage

Matthew 11:16 receives little JW commentary. Where it appears, the verse is read as Jesus's rebuke of the unbelieving Jewish generation that rejected both John and Jesus — a lesson about fickle religious response, not as a constraint on what "this generation" means in Matthew 24:34. The Watchtower needs Matthew 11:16 to be uncoupled from Matthew 24:34 to preserve the overlapping-generations doctrine.

## Protestant Usage

Matthew 11:16 is one of the four Synoptic uses of "this generation" (he genea haute) that lock down the meaning of Matthew 24:34. In every Gospel occurrence — Matthew 11:16, 12:41-42, 23:36, Luke 11:50-51, and Matthew 24:34 — Jesus uses the phrase to refer to his own contemporaries. There is no linguistic precedent for treating Matthew 24:34 as the single exception. Pair Matthew 11:16 with Matthew 12:41 ("the men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgement with this generation") to see Jesus making the contemporaneous reference unambiguous. Then ask the Witness: if "this generation" means his contemporaries everywhere else in the Gospels, what exegetical reason — not a rescue motive — does the Watchtower offer for treating Matthew 24:34 differently?

## Arguments Using This Verse

- ["This Generation" — Matthew 24:34](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/this-generation.md) — Jesus meant the generation standing in front of Him [Eschatology]