Markus 8:11-12

The Demand for a Sign

8:11 Then the Pharisees ¹  came and began to argue with Jesus, asking for ²  a sign from heaven ³  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, ⁴  no sign will be given to this generation.”

Markus 13:4

13:4 “Tell us, when will these things ⁵  happen? And what will be the sign that all these things are about to take place?”

[8:11]  ¹ sn See the note on Pharisees in 2:16.

[8:11]  ² tn Grk “seeking from him.” The participle ζητοῦντες (zhtountes) shows the means by which the Pharisees argued with Jesus.

[8:11]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[13:4]  ⁵ sn Both references to these things are plural, so more than the temple’s destruction is in view. The question may presuppose that such a catastrophe signals the end.