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Luke 7:34
ESV The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
NIV The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’
NASB The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a heavy drinker, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
CSB The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
NLT The Son of Man, on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!’
KJV The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!
NKJV The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

What does Luke 7:34 mean?

Jesus is completing His description of people who reject the message preached by Himself and John the Baptist. The detractors are complaining about the messenger, not the content of the message. Jesus compares those who reject John the Baptist to children who play lively music and complain that others will not dance (Luke 7:32). The Pharisees, religious lawyers, and respectable Jews live a normal life that includes linen robes, bread, and wine. They reject John's austere lifestyle of camel-hair clothes, locusts, and wild honey. This would be fine; Jesus doesn't expect everyone to live an ascetic lifestyle. But they also reject John's call for them to repent, thinking both John's message and his method too extreme (Luke 7:33).

Conversely, the religious leaders and those who follow them are also like children who play a dirge and can't understand why Jesus won't "weep." They condemn Jesus for eating with sinners and tax collectors, believing Him guilty by association. They don't understand that it is not appropriate to fast and mourn while the bridegroom is present or that, as the spiritual Physician, He must go where the sick are (Luke 5:27–35).

"Son of Man" is one of Jesus' favorite ways to identify Himself. It comes from Daniel 7:13–14 in which Daniel had a vision of "one like a son of man" who was given dominion over all people and nations by the Ancient of Days. The King James version uses terms such as "winebibber" and "publican." A winebibber is a drunkard. "Publican" is an old word for "tax-farmer" and means a tax collector.
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