Matthew 16:1-16

Common English Bible

Demand for a sign

16 The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus. In order to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

² But he replied, “At evening you say, ‘It will be nice weather because the sky is bright red.’ ³ And in the morning you say, ‘There will be bad weather today because the sky is cloudy.’ You know how to make sense of the sky’s appearance. But you are unable to recognize the signs that point to what the time is. ⁴ An evil and unfaithful generation searches for a sign. But it won’t receive any sign except Jonah’s sign.” Then he left them and went away.

Yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees

⁵ When the disciples arrived on the other side of the lake, they had forgotten to bring bread. ⁶ Jesus said to them, “Watch out and be on your guard for the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

⁷ They discussed this among themselves and said, “We didn’t bring any bread.”

⁸ Jesus knew what they were discussing and said, “You people of weak faith! Why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you don’t have any bread? ⁹ Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves that fed the five thousand and how many baskets of leftovers you gathered? ¹⁰ And the seven loaves that fed the four thousand and how many large baskets of leftovers you gathered? ¹¹ Don’t you know that I wasn’t talking about bread? But be on your guard for the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ¹² Then they understood that he wasn’t telling them to be on their guard for yeast used in making bread. No, he was telling them to watch out for the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Peter’s declaration about Jesus

¹³ Now when Jesus came to the area of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Human One^[a] is?”

¹⁴ They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”

¹⁵ He said, “And what about you? Who do you say that I am?”

¹⁶ Simon Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”