Matthew 21:16

ἀκούεις, etc.: the holy men attack the least objectionable phenomenon because they could do so safely; not the enthusiasm of the crowd, the Messianic homage, the act of zeal, all deeply offensive to them, but the innocent shouts of children echoing the cry of seniors. They were forsooth unseemly in such a place! Hypocrites and cowards! No fault found with the desecration of the sacred precincts by an unhallowed traffic. ναί, yes, of course : cheery, hearty, yea, not without enjoyment of the ridiculous distress of the sanctimonious guardians of the temple. οὐδ. ἀνέγνωτε as in Matthew 19:4 : felicitous citation from Psalms 8:3, not to be prosaically interpreted as if children in arms three or four years old, still being suckled according to the custom of Hebrew mothers, were among the shouting juniors. These prompt happy citations show how familiar Jesus was with the O. T.