Matthew 12:38-39

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.

Matthew 16:1-4

The Demand for a Sign

16:1 Now when the Pharisees ⁶  and Sadducees ⁷  came to test Jesus, ⁸  they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. ⁹  16:2 He ¹⁰  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.’ ¹¹  You know how to judge correctly the appearance of the sky, ¹²  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 ¹³  he left them and went away.

Mark 8:11-12

The Demand for a Sign

8:11 Then the Pharisees ¹⁴  came and began to argue with Jesus, asking for ¹⁵  a sign from heaven ¹⁶  to test him. 8:12 Sighing deeply in his spirit he said, “Why does this generation look for a sign? I tell you the truth, ¹⁷  no sign will be given to this generation.”

John 2:18

2:18 So then the Jewish leaders ¹⁸  responded, ¹⁹  “What sign can you show us, since you are doing these things?” ²⁰ 

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?

John 6:1

The Feeding of the Five Thousand

6:1 After this ²¹  Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (also called the Sea of Tiberias). ²² 

Colossians 1:22

1:22 but now he has reconciled you ²³  by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him –

[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.

[16:1]  ⁶ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

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

[16:1]  ⁸ tn The object of the participle πειράζοντες (peirazontes) is not given in the Greek text but has been supplied here for clarity.

[16:1]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Or “red and gloomy” (L&N 14.56).

[16:3]  ¹² tn Grk “The face of the sky you know how to discern.”

[16:4]  ¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[8:11]  ¹⁴ sn See the note on Pharisees in 2:16.

[8:11]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “seeking from him.” The participle ζητοῦντες (zhtountes) shows the means by which the Pharisees argued with Jesus.

[8:11]  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.

[8:12]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[2:18]  ¹⁸ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. Here the author refers to the authorities or leaders in Jerusalem. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9.)

[2:18]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[2:18]  ²⁰ sn The request “What sign can you show us” by Jesus’ adversaries was a request for a defense of his actions – a mark of divine authentication. Whether this was a request for a miracle is not entirely clear. Jesus never obliged such a request. Yet, ironically, the only sign the Jewish leadership will get is that predicted by Jesus in 2:19 – his crucifixion and resurrection. Cf. the “sign of Jonah” in the synoptics (Matt 12:39, 40; Luke 11:29-32).

[6:1]  ²¹ tn Again, μετὰ ταῦτα (meta tauta) is a vague temporal reference. How Jesus got from Jerusalem to Galilee is not explained, which has led many scholars (e.g., Bernard, Bultmann, and Schnackenburg) to posit either editorial redaction or some sort of rearrangement or dislocation of material (such as reversing the order of chaps. 5 and 6, for example). Such a rearrangement of the material would give a simple and consistent connection of events, but in the absence of all external evidence it does not seem to be supportable. R. E. Brown (John [AB], 1:236) says that such an arrangement is attractive in some ways but not compelling, and that no rearrangement can solve all the geographical and chronological problems in John.

[6:1]  ²² sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. Only John in the New Testament refers to the Sea of Galilee by the name Sea of Tiberias (see also John 21:1), but this is correct local usage. In the mid-20’s Herod completed the building of the town of Tiberias on the southwestern shore of the lake; after this time the name came into use for the lake itself.

[1:22]  ²³ tc Some of the better representatives of the Alexandrian and Western texts have a passive verb here instead of the active ἀποκατήλλαξεν (apokathllaxen, “he has reconciled”): ἀποκατηλλάγητε (apokathllaghte) in (Ì⁴⁶) B, ἀποκατήλλακται [sic] (apokathllaktai) in 33, and ἀποκαταλλαγέντες (apokatallagente") in D* F G. Yet the active verb is strongly supported by א A C D² Ψ 048 075 [0278] 1739 1881 Ï lat sy. Internally, the passive creates an anacoluthon in that it looks back to the accusative ὑμᾶς (Juma", “you”) of v. 21 and leaves the following παραστῆσαι (parasthsai) dangling (“you were reconciled…to present you”). The passive reading is certainly the harder reading. As such, it may well explain the rise of the other readings. At the same time, it is possible that the passive was produced by scribes who wanted some symmetry between the ποτε (pote, “at one time”) of v. 21 and the νυνὶ δέ (nuni de, “but now”) of v. 22: Since a passive periphrastic participle is used in v. 21, there may have a temptation to produce a corresponding passive form in v. 22, handling the ὑμᾶς of v. 21 by way of constructio ad sensum. Since παραστῆσαι occurs ten words later, it may not have been considered in this scribal modification. Further, the Western reading (ἀποκαταλλαγέντες) hardly seems to have arisen from ἀποκατηλλάγητε (contra TCGNT 555). As difficult as this decision is, the preferred reading is the active form because it is superior externally and seems to explain the rise of all forms of the passive readings.