John 6:30

6:30 So they said to him, “Then what miraculous sign will you perform, so that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?

Matthew 12:38-42

The Sign of Jonah

12:38 Then some of the experts in the law ¹  along with some Pharisees ²  answered him, ³  “Teacher, we want to see a sign ⁴  from you.” 12:39 But he answered them, ⁵  “An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 12:40 For just as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish ⁶  for three days and three nights, ⁷  so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. 12:41 The people ⁸  of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented when Jonah preached to them ⁹  – and now, ¹⁰  something greater than Jonah is here! 12:42 The queen of the South ¹¹  will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon – and now, ¹²  something greater than Solomon is here!

Matthew 16:1-4

The Demand for a Sign

16:1 Now when the Pharisees ¹³  and Sadducees ¹⁴  came to test Jesus, ¹⁵  they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. ¹⁶  16:2 He ¹⁷  said, “When evening comes you say, ‘It will be fair weather, because the sky is red,’ 16:3 and in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, because the sky is red and darkening.’ ¹⁸  You know how to judge correctly the appearance of the sky, ¹⁹  but you cannot evaluate the signs of the times. 16:4 A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then ²⁰  he left them and went away.

Mark 8:11

The Demand for a Sign

8:11 Then the Pharisees ²¹  came and began to argue with Jesus, asking for ²²  a sign from heaven ²³  to test him.

Luke 11:29

The Sign of Jonah

11:29 As ²⁴  the crowds were increasing, Jesus ²⁵  began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it looks for a sign, ²⁶  but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. ²⁷ 

[12:38]  ¹ tn Or “Then some of the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[12:38]  ² tn Grk “and Pharisees.” The word “some” before “Pharisees” has been supplied for clarification.

[12:38]  ³ tn Grk “answered him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant, but the syntax of the sentence was changed to conform to English style.

[12:38]  ⁴ 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.

[12:39]  ⁵ tn Grk “But answering, he said to them.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.

[12:40]  ⁶ tn Grk “large sea creature.”

[12:40]  ⁷ sn A quotation from Jonah 1:17.

[12:41]  ⁸ tn Grk “men”; the word here (ἀνήρ, anhr) usually indicates males or husbands, but occasionally is used in a generic sense of people in general, as here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 1.a, 2).

[12:41]  ⁹ tn Grk “at the preaching of Jonah.”

[12:41]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “behold.”

[12:42]  ¹¹ sn On the queen of the South see 1 Kgs 10:1-3 and 2 Chr 9:1-12, as well as Josephus, Ant. 8.6.5-6 (8.165-175). The South most likely refers to modern southwest Arabia, possibly the eastern part of modern Yemen, although there is an ancient tradition reflected in Josephus which identifies this geo-political entity as Ethiopia.

[12:42]  ¹² tn Grk “behold.”

[16:1]  ¹³ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[16:1]  ¹⁴ sn See the note on Sadducees in 3:7.

[16:1]  ¹⁵ tn The object of the participle πειράζοντες (peirazontes) is not given in the Greek text but has been supplied here for clarity.

[16:1]  ¹⁶ 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.

[16:2]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “But answering, he said to them.” The construction has been simplified in the translation and δέ (de) has not been translated.

[16:3]  ¹⁸ tn Or “red and gloomy” (L&N 14.56).

[16:3]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “The face of the sky you know how to discern.”

[16:4]  ²⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[8:11]  ²¹ sn See the note on Pharisees in 2:16.

[8:11]  ²² tn Grk “seeking from him.” The participle ζητοῦντες (zhtountes) shows the means by which the Pharisees argued with Jesus.

[8:11]  ²³ 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.

[11:29]  ²⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[11:29]  ²⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:29]  ²⁶ sn The mention of a sign alludes back to Luke 11:16. Given what Jesus had done, nothing would be good enough. This leads to the rebuke that follows.

[11:29]  ²⁷ sn As the following comparisons to Solomon and Jonah show, in the present context the sign of Jonah is not an allusion to Jonah being three days in the belly of the fish, but to Jesus’ teaching about wisdom and repentance.