Matthew 16:1-4
New English Translation
The Demand for a Sign
16 Now when the Pharisees[a] and Sadducees[b] came to test Jesus,[c] they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.[d] 2 He[e] said, “When evening comes you say, ‘It will be fair weather, because the sky is red,’ 3 and in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, because the sky is red and darkening.’[f] You know how to judge correctly the appearance of the sky,[g] but you cannot evaluate the signs of the times. 4 A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then[h] he left them and went away.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Matthew 16:1 sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.
- Matthew 16:1 sn See the note on Sadducees in 3:7.
- Matthew 16:1 tn The object of the participle πειράζοντες (peirazontes) is not given in the Greek text but has been supplied here for clarity.
- Matthew 16:1 sn What exactly this sign would have been, given what Jesus was already doing, is not clear. But here is where the fence-sitters reside, refusing to commit to him.
- Matthew 16:2 tn Grk “But answering, he said to them.” The construction has been simplified in the translation and δέ (de) has not been translated.
- Matthew 16:3 tn Or “red and gloomy” (L&N 14.56).
- Matthew 16:3 tn Grk “The face of the sky you know how to discern.”
- Matthew 16:4 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
Matthew 16:1-4
International Standard Version
Interpreting the Time(A)
16 When the Pharisees and Sadducees arrived, in order to test Jesus[a] they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. 2 He replied to them, “You say,
‘Red sky at night,
what a delight!
3 Red sky in the morning,
cloudy and storming.’
You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, yet you can’t interpret the signs of the times?[b] 4 An evil and adulterous generation craves a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then he left them and went away.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Matthew 16:1 Lit. him
- Matthew 16:3 Other mss. lack You say. . . the signs of the times?
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