Matthew 12:38-45

Legacy Standard Bible

The Sign of Jonah

³⁸ Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered and said to Him, “Teacher, ^(A)we want to see ^[a]a sign from You.” ³⁹ But He answered and said to them, “^(B)An evil and adulterous generation eagerly seeks for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; ⁴⁰ for just as ^(C)Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will ^(D)the Son of Man be ^(E)three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. ^41 (F)The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because ^(G)they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, ^(H)something greater than Jonah is here. ^42 (I)The Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, ^(J)something greater than Solomon is here.

⁴³ “^(K)Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. ⁴⁴ Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. ⁴⁵ Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and ^(L)the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”