Jesus is no longer reporting what the children said. It is sometimes necessary to make this clear, as in “People today are like them (or, that) because….”

Verses 18-19 contain the application of the parable. For John came neither eating nor drinking is made shorter by Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (“John fasted”); Barclay restructures for clarification (“living the life of an ascetic”). To say John came neither eating nor drinking does not mean he was some supernatural being who did not eat or drink anything at all. It means firstly that he fasted regularly, that is, went without food in order to worship God. (See comments at 6.16.) Secondly, it states he drank no alcoholic drinks. Therefore the translation can be “For when John came he often went without food to worship God, and he drank nothing alcoholic (or, no wine).”

And can be “but,” “and yet,” or “and as a result.”

They can be “people.”

He has a demon (Good News Translation “He has a demon in him”) means “he is possessed by an evil spirit” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Barclay has “The man is demon-possessed!”; both New Jerusalem Bible and New English Bible, “He is possessed.” Neither Phillips (“He’s crazy!”) nor New American Bible (“He is mad!”) should be followed, since they fail to convey the idea of demon possession, which is integral to the biblical culture. For a discussion of spirit possession, see 4.24. “He has an evil spirit in him” or “An evil spirit has filled him” are just two examples of how it can be translated here.

The sentence can be either direct speech, “and people say, ‘He has an evil spirit,’ ” or indirect, as in “people say about him that he is possessed by an evil spirit.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .