Matius 15:39--16:4

15:39 After sending away the crowd, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan. ¹ 

The Demand for a Sign

16:1 Now when the Pharisees ²  and Sadducees ³  came to test Jesus, ⁴  they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. ⁵  16:2 He ⁶  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.’ ⁷  You know how to judge correctly the appearance of the sky, ⁸  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 ⁹  he left them and went away.

[15:39]  ¹ sn Magadan was a place along the Sea of Galilee, the exact location of which is uncertain.

[16:1]  ² sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

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

[16:1]  ⁴ tn The object of the participle πειράζοντες (peirazontes) is not given in the Greek text but has been supplied here for clarity.

[16:1]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Or “red and gloomy” (L&N 14.56).

[16:3]  ⁸ tn Grk “The face of the sky you know how to discern.”

[16:4]  ⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.