Matthew 11:17

We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced - We have begun the music, which should have been followed by the dance, but ye have not attended to it.

We have mourned - and ye have not lamented - Ye have not smote the breast: ουκ εκοψασθε , from κοπτομαι , to strike, or beat the breasts with the hands, particularly in lamentation. So used, Nahum 2:7 ; Luke 18:13 ; Luke 23:48 , and by the best Greek and Roman writers. There is an allusion here to those funeral lamentations explained Matthew 9:23 .