The Fallible Study Bible

The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible

Matthew16:1–4

The Demand for a Sign

✦ Public-domain source — quoted & attributed⚙ AI synthesis — generated, verify

Matthew 16:1–4 — The Demand for a Sign. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

1

Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came and tested Jesus by asking Him to show them a sign from heaven.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai hoi Pharisaioi kai Saddoukaioi proselthontes peirazontes epērōtēsan auton epideixai autois sēmeion ek tou ouranou

Word by word15 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiThenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ΦαρισαῖοιPharisaioiPhariseesG5330
√ Φαρισαῖος — a separatist, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
Φαρισαῖος: a separatist, Pharisee The traditionists, holding resurrection, angels and spirits (Poole, citing Acts 23:7-8).
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ΣαδδουκαῖοιSaddoukaioiSadduceesG4523
√ Σαδδουκαῖος — a Sadducæan (iNounNominative Masculine Plural
Σαδδουκαῖος: a Sadducee The one appearance of this party in the Galilean ministry, which Ellicott explains from Mark's "leaven of Herod" standing where Matthew has "leaven of the Sadducees": the Galilean Sadducees were Herodians. Poole and Pulpit both stress how far apart the two sects stood (traditions against no traditions, resurrection against no resurrection) and how completely a common hostility fused them. Pulpit answers Strauss, who thought the coalition too unnatural to be historical, by observing that nothing is more common than opponents coalescing against a shared danger.
προσελθόντεςproselthontescameG4334
√ προσέρχομαι — to approach, iVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
προσέρχομαι: to approach, come near Aorist participle: the approach that frames the whole scene, and the same verb the disciples use in Matthew 24:1 when they come to display the temple.
πειράζοντεςpeirazontes[and] tested [Jesus]G3985
√ πειράζω — to test (objectively), iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
πειράζω: to test, put to the proof The verb of the wilderness (Matthew 4:1) and, in its noun form, of Israel at Massah. Here the testers are the religious authorities and the tested one is the Son, which reverses the covenant order: Geneva's gloss says that by such means God himself is said to be tempted, that is, provoked, as though men would strive with him.
ἐπηρώτησανepērōtēsanby askingG1905
√ ἐπερωτάω — to ask for, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἐπερωτάω: to question, interrogate The governing verb. Pulpit's classical sense, putting a question for decision, makes this a formal demand for adjudication rather than an inquiry, which is why the reply is a verdict rather than an argument.
αὐτὸνautonHimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ἐπιδεῖξαιepideixaito showG1925
√ ἐπιδείκνυμι — to exhibit (physically or mentally)VerbAorist Infinitive Active
ἐπιδείκνυμι: to exhibit, display Rare (7 verses). The request is for a demonstration staged on their terms: Henry's whole reading of the unit turns on this, that they "desired a sign of their own choosing" and despised the signs that fed and healed.
αὐτοῖςautoisthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
σημεῖονsēmeiona signG4592
√ σημεῖον — an indication, especially ceremonially or supernaturallyNounAccusative Neuter Singular
σημεῖον: a sign, indication The word that carries this unit: it appears four times across the four verses (16:1, 16:3 plural, 16:4 twice). A σημεῖον in Matthew is never a bare wonder; it is a pointer that requires reading. The demand for one, and the refusal of one, is the whole action.
ἐκekfromG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
οὐρανοῦouranouheavenG3772
√ οὐρανός — the skyNounGenitive Masculine Singular
οὐρανός: sky, heaven One Greek noun does duty for the visible sky and the dwelling of God, and the reply exploits that. Gill records the Jewish expectation of the kind of thing meant: the sun standing still as in Joshua's day, manna as in Moses' day, thunder and lightning as at Sinai; Pulpit adds the rabbinic rule that demons could work wonders on earth but God alone could give a sign from heaven.
2

But He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘The weather will be fair, for the sky is red,’

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Ho apokritheis eipen autois Opsias genomenēs legete Eudia gar ho ouranos pyrrazei

Word by word13 · parsed
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὉHoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἀποκριθεὶςapokritheisHe repliedG611
√ ἀποκρίνομαι — to conclude for oneself, iVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
ἀποκρίνομαι: to answer, reply Passive in form, active in force. Matthew's usual formula for a weighted reply.
εἶπενeipen. . .G2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτοῖςautois. . .G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ὈψίαςOpsiasWhen eveningG3798
√ ὄψιος — lateAdjectiveGenitive Feminine Singular
ὄψιος: late, evening Feminine genitive in the absolute construction, the hour of the red western sky Cambridge pictures over the lake toward the cliffs of Gergesa.
γενομένηςgenomenēscomesG1096
√ γίνομαι — to cause to be ("gen"-erate), iVerbAorist Participle MiddleGenitive Feminine Singular
γίνομαι: to become, come to be Aorist middle participle. The point of the tense is that the sign has already arrived when the reading is made, which is precisely the charge: the hour of Messiah had already come and they were still asking for a forecast.
λέγετεlegeteyou sayG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
ΕὐδίαEudiaThe weather [will be] fairG2105
√ εὐδία — a clear sky, iNounNominative Feminine Singular
εὐδία: fair weather, a clear sky A word found only here in the New Testament. It is the whole of the quoted human speech: one noun, flung out, with the reason attached by γάρ. Jesus does not argue from Scripture with these questioners (Pulpit notes this), he argues from their own competence, and he quotes them to themselves.
γὰρgarforG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
γάρ: for, because The reason clause, repeated identically in v. 3: they always give grounds.
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
οὐρανόςouranosskyG3772
√ οὐρανός — the skyNounNominative Masculine Singular
πυρράζειpyrrazeiis redG4449
√ πυῤῥάζω — to redden (intransitively)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
πυρράζω: to be fiery red Used only in vv. 2 and 3, and used of the same colour with opposite conclusions. Ellicott finds significance in that: one flush portends a bright day, the other a storm, and the flush of expectation in Israel was at once the promise of coming sunshine and the presage of coming judgment.
3

and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but not the signs of the times.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai prōi Sēmeron cheimōn gar ho ouranos pyrrazei stygnazōn men ginōskete diakrinein to prosōpon tou ouranou de ou dynasthe ta sēmeia tōn kairōn

Word by word23 · parsed
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
πρωΐprōiin the morningG4404
√ πρωΐ — at dawnAdverb
ΣήμερονSēmeronTodayG4594
√ σήμερον — on the (iAdverb
χειμώνcheimōn[it will be] stormyG5494
√ χειμών — akin to the base of 5490 through the idea of a channel), meaning a storm (as pouring rain)NounNominative Masculine Singular
χειμών: storm, winter weather A rare noun (6 verses): the tempest of Acts 27:20, the winter of Matthew 24:20 and Mark 13:18. The choice of a heavy word for a morning forecast is part of the irony, since the storm they can read in the sky is smaller than the one gathering over the city.
γὰρgarforG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
οὐρανόςouranosskyG3772
√ οὐρανός — the skyNounNominative Masculine Singular
πυρράζειpyrrazeiis redG4449
√ πυῤῥάζω — to redden (intransitively)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
στυγνάζωνstygnazōn[and] overcastG4768
√ στυγνάζω — to render gloomy, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
στυγνάζω: to be gloomy, to lower Found only here and Mark 10:22 (of a man's face falling when he hears what discipleship costs). Reading the two together, the same word describes a sky that frowns and a heart that falls: the sky's face they can read, their own they cannot.
μὲνmenG3303
√ μέν — properly, indicative of affirmation or concession (in fact)Conjunction
γινώσκετεginōsketeYou know [how]G1097
√ γινώσκω — to "know" (absolutely) in a great variety of applications and with many implications (as follow, with others not thus clearly expressed)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
γινώσκω: to know, recognize Present indicative, a standing competence. The verb of recognition, which makes the failure in the second half of the verse a failure of recognition and not of information.
διακρίνεινdiakrineinto interpretG1252
√ διακρίνω — to separate thoroughly, iVerbPresent Infinitive Active
διακρίνω: to judge between, discriminate The verb Paul later uses for discerning the body (1 Corinthians 11:29) and for judging among ourselves. Its object here is a πρόσωπον, a face, so the charge is that they are competent readers of faces who will not read the one before them.
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
πρόσωπονprosōponappearanceG4383
√ πρόσωπον — the front (as being towards view), iNounAccusative Neuter Singular
πρόσωπον: face, front, appearance Literally the face of the heaven. Geneva's marginal note explains the idiom from the Hebrew, where the outward show and countenance of anything is called a face; Barnes flattens it to "the appearance of the sky," which is the sense but loses the personification that στυγνάζων has already set up.
τοῦtouof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
οὐρανοῦouranouskyG3772
√ οὐρανός — the skyNounGenitive Masculine Singular
δὲdebutG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
οὐounotG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
δύνασθεdynastheG1410
√ δύναμαι — to be able or possibleVerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive2nd Person Plural
τὰtatheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Plural
σημεῖαsēmeiasignsG4592
√ σημεῖον — an indication, especially ceremonially or supernaturallyNounAccusative Neuter Plural
σημεῖον: sign Now plural, and now the things they cannot read. The signs they demanded (v. 1) and the signs already given (v. 3) are the same word, which is the hinge of the rebuke.
τῶνtōnof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
καιρῶνkairōntimesG2540
√ καιρός — an occasion, iNounGenitive Masculine Plural
καιρός: appointed time, season, occasion Not χρόνος, clock time, but the loaded moment. Pulpit calls them critical times, the age foretold for the appearance of the Messiah, and lists what could have been read: the sceptre departed from Judah, the fourth empire standing, Daniel's weeks closing, the Baptist come in the spirit of Elijah. Poole gives a parallel list from the prophets, Isaiah 7:14, Micah 5:2, Genesis 49:10, Malachi 4:5, Isaiah 35:5-6.
4

A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Then He left them and went away.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

ponēra kai moichalis genea epizētei sēmeion kai sēmeion ou dothēsetai autē ei mē to sēmeion Iōna kai katalipōn autous apēlthen

Word by word20 · parsed
πονηρὰponēra[A] wickedG4190
√ πονηρός — hurtful, iAdjectiveNominative Feminine Singular
πονηρός: hurtful, evil, wicked Feminine, agreeing with γενεά, and placed first in the clause for weight; there is no verb of being, so the generation is simply named rather than described. In Matthew the adjective is not weakness but active malignity: the evil one of the petition and of Matthew 13:19, and the "you who are evil" of Matthew 7:11. Paired with μοιχαλίς it makes two charges, malice toward God and infidelity to him, and it is this pair, not the request for evidence, that the refusal of v. 4 answers.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
μοιχαλὶςmoichalisadulterousG3428
√ μοιχαλίς — an adulteress (literally or figuratively)NounNominative Feminine Singular
μοιχαλίς: an adulteress A rare noun (6 verses) and a prophetic one in substance: the covenant people figured as an unfaithful wife, as in Hosea 1:2 and Hosea 2. Benson reads it as spiritual adultery, love of the world, which is why the demand for a sign is itself named as unfaithfulness rather than as honest doubt: the eye that wants a spectacle has already gone after another lover.
γενεὰgeneagenerationG1074
√ γενεά — a generationNounNominative Feminine Singular
γενεά: a generation Not the two parties only but the whole age, and the same word that carries Mark 8:38 and Matthew 12:41-42, where this generation is judged by Nineveh and by the queen of the South. The rebuke widens from the questioners to their era.
ἐπιζητεῖepizēteidemandsG1934
√ ἐπιζητέω — to search (inquire) forVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἐπιζητέω: to search for, seek after Present and intensive: a generation defined by what it keeps hunting. The irony is that it hunts a σημεῖον while standing in front of one.
σημεῖονsēmeiona signG4592
√ σημεῖον — an indication, especially ceremonially or supernaturallyNounAccusative Neuter Singular
καὶkaibutG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
σημεῖονsēmeionvvvG4592
√ σημεῖον — an indication, especially ceremonially or supernaturallyNounNominative Neuter Singular
σημεῖον: sign The second of two in this verse, nominative now: the sign sought (accusative) and the sign given (nominative, subject of the passive) are set face to face in the Greek. The BSB necessarily collapses this into "none will be given it."
οὐounoneG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
δοθήσεταιdothēsetaiwill be givenG1325
√ δίδωμι — to give (used in a very wide application, properly, or by implication, literally or figurativelyVerbFuture Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
δίδωμι: to give Future passive without an agent, the divine passive. The refusal is not an inability of Jesus but a withholding of God: the one sign that will be given is given on God's terms and at God's hour, and it is a death and a rising, not a portent in the sky. Ellicott records that Mark's form of the answer is more absolute still, no sign at all to this generation.
αὐτῇautēitG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Feminine 3rd Person Singular
εἰeiexceptG1487
√ εἰ — if, whether, that, etcConjunction
μὴmē. . .G3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
σημεῖονsēmeionsignG4592
√ σημεῖον — an indication, especially ceremonially or supernaturallyNounNominative Neuter Singular
σημεῖον: sign Articular: the sign. Geneva's note on the article is the shortest statement of the unit's logic, that this one sign is notable enough to answer every demand.
ἸωνᾶIōnaof JonahG2495
√ Ἰωνᾶς — Jonas (iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
Ἰωνᾶς: Jonah Rare (7 verses, all in Matthew and Luke). The only Old Testament name in the unit, and the only content given to the promised sign. Poole, following Chemnitius, reads Jonah as a type in more respects than the three days: thrown into the sea by those he had trusted himself to, thrown willingly, saving the ship by going down, cast up on dry land, and preaching to a city that repented and then perished.
καὶkaiThenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
καταλιπὼνkatalipōnHe leftG2641
√ καταλείπω — to leave down, iVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
καταλείπω: to leave behind, forsake Aorist participle, a stronger word than simple departure: leaving down, abandoning. Gill reads it as leaving them as hardened and incurable and unworthy of further conversation; Pulpit as righteous anger at their obduracy, and notes that Jesus never taught or worked miracles publicly on that spot again.
αὐτοὺςautousthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἀπῆλθενapēlthen[and] went awayG565
√ ἀπέρχομαι — to go off (iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἀπέρχομαι: to go away, depart The last word of the unit. The sign they would not read removes itself from their sight.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The coalition: two hostile parties and one demand — 16:1

Matthew's first word is a coalition. Poole sets out how far apart these men stood, the Pharisees zealots for tradition and holding resurrection, angels and spirits, the Sadducees valuing no traditions and denying all three (he sends the reader to Acts 23:7-8). Ellicott adds the detail that Sadducees do not otherwise appear in the Galilean ministry at all, and explains their presence from Mark, where "the leaven of Herod" stands in place of Matthew's "leaven of the Sadducees": these were the Galilean Sadducees, that is, Herodians. Pulpit answers the objection of Strauss, who found the alliance so unnatural that he doubted the whole account, by noting how ordinary it is for settled opponents to combine against a common danger, and quotes Tertullian's line that Christ is always being crucified between two thieves. Geneva's gloss is the theological version of the same observation, that the wicked who disagree with one another agree well together against Christ. ⚙ The Greek keeps the two nouns under a single article (οἱ Φαρισαῖοι καὶ Σαδδουκαῖοι), which is how Matthew writes one party out of two. Their single finite verb is ἐπηρώτησαν (G1905), which Pulpit calls emphatic and glosses from classical usage as putting a question for decision: a formal demand for adjudication. What they ask for is ἐπιδεῖξαι (G1925, in only 7 verses), not disclosure but exhibition. Gill lists what the period expected under "a sign from heaven": the sun standing still as for Joshua, manna as under Moses, thunder and lightning as at Sinai, and he records a Zohar passage making a strangely coloured rainbow the signal to look for Messiah. Pulpit supplies the rabbinic rule that gave the demand its point, that demons and false gods could work wonders on earth but God alone could give a sign from heaven; Ellicott names the same logic from the other side, that an earthly wonder might be collusion or a power preternatural but not divine.

ii. The red sky: a competence they have and a competence they refuse — 16:2-3

The reply does not argue from Scripture. Pulpit observes this deliberately: with these mixed cavillers Jesus argues from the natural world, and Barnes puts the logic plainly, that there are sufficient indications on which they should judge, namely his miracles and the state of affairs in Judea. Gill and Poole both spell out the folk meteorology, the fiery evening sky read as thin cloud soon spent and so fair weather, the red and lowering morning read as cloud the sun cannot disperse; Pulpit adds that the rabbinical schools made a point of teaching weather lore and that the coming year's rains were annually forecast, so the competence Jesus grants them was a cultivated one. Cambridge pictures the scene, Jesus and his questioners looking across the lake toward the cliffs of Gergesa with the sky red from the reflected sunset. ⚙ Three words carry the rebuke. πυρράζει (G4449) occurs only in these two verses and means to be fire-red, and Ellicott makes the sharpest observation available on it: the redness is the same in both readings, so the flush that portends a brighter day and the flush that portends the storm are one colour, differently timed. στυγνάζων (G4768) is not a weather word at all; the Verifier finds it in only two verses, the other being Mark 10:22 where a man's countenance fell, and Pulpit names the figure, a word for a face applied by prosopopoeia to the sky. διακρίνειν (G1252) is to judge between, and its object is τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, the face of the heaven, which Geneva traces to the Hebrew idiom of calling the outward show of anything a face. So the charge is not ignorance but a refusal of an exercised skill: γινώσκετε against οὐ δύνασθε, and the objects differ only in what is at stake. Benson, Poole and Gill converge on the diagnosis: their failure was owing neither to want of evidence nor to want of capacity, but, in Benson's words, to self-confidence and pride and a carnal and worldly spirit. Pulpit and Poole each list the readable signs of the καιροί, the sceptre departed from Judah, Daniel's weeks closing, the Baptist come in the spirit of Elijah, the prophesied birth and town and works.

iii. The sign refused, the sign named, and the departure — 16:4

The verdict repeats words already spoken at Matthew 12:39, and Gill, Barnes, Cambridge and Pulpit all say so; Pulpit notes that this time he does not explain them, because he wastes no time in useless discussion with perverse opponents. ⚙ The Greek sets sign against sign: σημεῖον accusative, the thing hunted by ἐπιζητεῖ (G1934, a present intensive, a settled habit of hunting), and σημεῖον nominative, the subject of δοθήσεται, a future passive whose unnamed giver is God. The refusal is therefore a withholding, not an inability, and Ellicott records that Mark's form is more absolute still, no sign of the kind demanded to this generation. The one thing granted comes with the article: Geneva's brief note, that the article shows how notable the sign is, is the smallest and best comment in the unit. Benson names what the sign is, the miracle of Christ's own resurrection, and Poole, following Chemnitius, unfolds Jonah as a type in five respects at once. Pulpit adds the probable mishearing on their side, that they may have thought of Jonah only as a prophet against Nineveh and resented the allusion as an affront to their righteousness. Then καταλιπὼν (G2641), leaving down, abandoning, and ἀπῆλθεν (G565): Gill says he left them as hardened and incurable, Pulpit that he left them in righteous anger at their obduracy and never taught publicly or worked miracles on that spot again.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested. The unit is built on one noun used twice over, οὐρανός: they ask for a sign out of the heaven, and he answers by describing how expertly they read the heaven. Nothing is wrong with their eyes and nothing is wrong with their method. διακρίνειν, to judge between, is a real and difficult skill, and they have it; Pulpit even records that they were schooled in it. What fails is that the skill stops at the weather. The Greek makes the failure a matter of ability, οὐ δύνασθε, and Benson, Poole and Gill are right, on the evidence of the passage itself, that this inability is moral and not evidential: a man who can read a scowling sky and cannot read a healed leper is not short of data. So the demand for a sign is itself named as adultery, μοιχαλίς, a noun, not an adjective, and the covenant figure of a wife gone after another lover. The generation wanted a wonder it could stand outside of and assess; what it is given is a sign it cannot stand outside of, since the sign of Jonah is a death and a rising and the only way to read it is to be inside it. And then the last two words of the unit: καταλιπὼν ... ἀπῆλθεν. The sign they would not read withdrew. That is the sober warning ⚙ would press on any reader who wants proof before trust rather than through it: the withdrawal is not the refusal of evidence, it is the arrival of the verdict.

The line that follows is the tool's fallible synthesis and is not a verse of Scripture: they could read a scowling sky and not a scowling age, because the skill was never the thing that was missing.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The same answer, already given: Matthew 12:39-41 verbal / quotation: confirmed

Jesus is quoting himself. The formula of v. 4, a wicked and adulterous generation seeking a sign and receiving none except the sign of Jonah, stands almost word for word at Matthew 12:39, where it is then explained by the three days and nights in the belly of the sea creature (Matthew 12:40) and by Nineveh's repentance (Matthew 12:41). Barnes, Gill, Cambridge, Ellicott and Pulpit all send the reader there rather than re-argue it, and Pulpit's observation is that the repetition is deliberate and the explanation deliberately withheld the second time. The Verifier confirms the lexical overlap across the pair, and the rare name Ἰωνᾶς is the decisive one.

Matthew 12:39 · Matthew 12:41

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G4592 σημεῖον (in 69 vv) and G611 ἀποκρίνομαι (in 231 vv) at Matthew 12:39, plus the rare G2495 Ἰωνᾶς (in 7 vv) and G1074 γενεά (in 37 vv) at Matthew 12:41. Both refs are New Testament Greek, and the link is a genuine self-quotation of the same saying, not merely shared vocabulary.

A sky with a fallen face: στυγνάζω in only two verses verbal / quotation: confirmed

The participle the English calls "overcast" is στυγνάζων (G4768), and the Verifier finds the verb in exactly two verses of the New Testament. The other is Mark 10:22, where the rich young man, hearing what he must sell, went away with his countenance fallen. Pulpit names the figure in so many words, a word applied to the expression of the countenance and therefore applicable by prosopopoeia to the look of the sky, and cites Mark 10:22 himself. ⚙ Read together, the pair is quietly exact: in Matthew 16 a face in the sky is read correctly and a person is not; in Mark 10 a face falls because the reading was correct and unwelcome. The unit's other rare word, χειμών, runs on a similar short list (Acts 27:20, 2 Timothy 4:21, Matthew 24:20, Mark 13:18, John 10:22).

Mark 10:22

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G4768 στυγνάζω (in 2 vv), the rarest possible overlap, plus G565 ἀπέρχομαι (in 116 vv). Both refs are New Testament Greek. The tier records a confirmed rare-lexeme link, not a quotation: neither passage cites the other.

The sign of Jonah: three days in the deep and a city that heard typological

The one sign granted is named from the Old Testament, and the naming is explicit in the text of v. 4. Jonah 1:17 gives the three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, which Matthew 12:40 makes the point of comparison, and Jonah 3 gives the preaching that turned Nineveh, which Matthew 12:41 makes the ground of judgment on this generation. Poole, taking the list from Chemnitius, reads Jonah as a type in five respects, thrown into the sea by those he had entrusted himself to, thrown willingly, saving the ship by going down into the water, cast up alive on the third day, and preaching to a city whose repentance did not last. Pulpit suspects the questioners heard only the Nineveh half and took it as an insult.

Jonah 1:17 · Jonah 3:4

basis: The Jonah reference is explicit in the Greek of Matthew 16:4 (G2495 Ἰωνᾶς, in 7 vv), but the link is cross-Testament, Greek to Hebrew, so no shared Strong's number can ground it and it cannot be tiered verbal. Tiered typological because Jesus himself reads Jonah figurally; attested ancient and widely-held (Poole with Chemnitius, Benson, Cambridge, Pulpit).

"A wicked and adulterous generation": the prophets' word for a faithless age structural / thematic: confirmed

Neither adjective is invented for the occasion. Deuteronomy 32:5 and 32:20 call Israel a perverse and crooked generation and a generation in which there is no faithfulness; Psalm 78:8 warns against being like the stubborn and rebellious generation whose spirit was not faithful to God; Hosea 1:2 opens the whole book with the land committing great adultery by forsaking the LORD, and Hosea 2 develops the figure of the unfaithful wife. ⚙ That figure is why μοιχαλίς is a noun here and not an adjective: the generation is not described as behaving adulterously, it is called an adulteress. Benson takes it in the same covenantal sense, love of the world, which is spiritual adultery, blinding the understanding.

Deuteronomy 32:5 · Deuteronomy 32:20 · Psalm 78:8 · Hosea 1:2

basis: Cross-Testament, Greek to Hebrew, so shared Strong's numbers are unavailable and no verbal claim is made. The recorded basis is a shared and well attested prophetic motif, the covenant generation figured as faithless and adulterous. The Verifier's own list supports only the New Testament side of the word (G3428 μοιχαλίς, in 6 vv).

Asking heaven for proof: Massah, the wilderness, Ahaz, and the testers of God structural / thematic: confirmed

The demand of v. 1 has a long history, and so does its refusal. Exodus 17:2 has Israel putting the LORD to the proof at Massah; Numbers 14:11 has God asking how long this people will refuse to believe him for all the signs he has done among them, which is the exact shape of the complaint here; Malachi 3:15 quotes an age calling the arrogant blessed because they put God to the test and escape. Isaiah 7:11-12 inverts it: a sign from the depths or the heights above is offered to Ahaz and he refuses to ask, and the sign is given anyway, a child. ⚙ Matthew's πειράζοντες (G3985) is the Greek verb for exactly this activity, and Geneva's gloss reaches the same place from the wording of v. 1, that by such means God is said to be tempted, that is, provoked, as though men would strive with him.

Exodus 17:2 · Numbers 14:11 · Isaiah 7:11 · Malachi 3:15

basis: Cross-Testament, Greek to Hebrew: no shared Strong's numbers are possible, so no verbal tier. Basis is the shared pattern of testing God by demanding proof, with the Isaiah 7:11-12 contact recorded as an inversion (a sign offered and declined) rather than a parallel. The Septuagint's use of πειράζω at Exodus 17:2 is not part of the Verifier's computed basis and is not relied on here.

The adulteress word elsewhere in the New Testament structural / thematic: confirmed

μοιχαλίς (G3428) appears in only six verses. Mark 8:38 uses it of this same adulterous and sinful generation before which one may be ashamed of Christ; James 4:4 addresses adulteresses and asks whether friendship with the world is not enmity with God; Romans 7:3 and 2 Peter 2:14 use it in plainer senses. ⚙ James is the closest conceptual match to what Jesus does here, naming worldliness itself as marital infidelity, which is also Benson's reading of v. 4. The link is lexical and thematic; James is not citing Matthew.

Mark 8:38 · James 4:4

basis: Verifier: shared rare Greek lexeme G3428 μοιχαλίς (in 6 vv), with G1074 γενεά (in 37 vv) also shared at Mark 8:38. All refs are New Testament, so a verbal tier would be permitted, but it is deliberately under-claimed to structural: James 4:4 is an independent use of the same figure, not a quotation or echo of this saying.

Do vv. 2b and 3 belong here at all? The disputed weather saying flagged: verify source

Ellicott states the problem: some of the best manuscripts, the Vatican and Sinaitic among them, omit the whole of the weather saying, and it is absent from Mark. He argues for keeping it on internal grounds, that its singular originality of form makes later invention unlikely, and suggests a transcriber who could not read its meaning, or a wish to harmonize with Mark, as the cause of the loss. Pulpit agrees the verses are most probably genuine, and insists they could not have been imported from the similar saying at Luke 12:54-56 because the circumstances and the wording differ too much. A second, smaller textual question sits in the same passage: Gill notes that the address "O ye hypocrites" is left out by the Vulgate and by Munster's Hebrew Gospel while all other versions and copies have it, and Pulpit records that it is omitted by some uncials and by many modern editors. It is absent from the BSB text and from the interlinear of this unit.

Luke 12:54

basis: Provenance is genuinely contested. The relation of Matthew 16:2b-3 to Luke 12:54-56 is asserted by some editors and denied by the Pulpit Commentary, and the Matthaean verses themselves are omitted by major uncials (so Ellicott). No shared-lexeme basis is offered because the Verifier's candidate list does not include Luke 12:54. Flagged rather than tiered.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The only sign given: a death and a rising ancient/widely-held

The single sign granted to a generation that wanted a portent is the one sign that cannot be watched from a distance. Benson names it directly, the miracle of Christ's own resurrection, a sign greater than any showed by the ancient prophets and therefore proving Jesus superior to them all. Poole, taking the scheme from Chemnitius, reads the whole Jonah narrative typologically: handed over by those he had trusted himself to, going down willingly, saving the ship by his own submersion, cast up on the third day. Cambridge and Pulpit both refer the reader to Matthew 12:39-41 for the explanation Matthew withholds here, and Pulpit adds that of his death and resurrection, whereof Jonah was a type, the questioners knew and understood nothing. ⚙ The grammar carries the same weight: δοθήσεται is a future passive with no agent named, so the sign is not something Jesus performs on demand but something God will give, at God's hour, in the body of his Son. Paul's summary that Christ was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:4) is the apostolic form of the same claim.

Jonah 1:17 · Matthew 12:40 · 1 Corinthians 15:4

The sign from heaven they were refused, and the signs at the cross ancient/widely-held

Barnes makes an observation the passage invites and does not itself state: though Christ did not choose to show such wonders then, far more stupendous signs from heaven than these were exhibited at his death. ⚙ The Gospel bears that out in its own terms. The party asked for darkness across a glowing sky or a portent overhead; at the crucifixion darkness came over all the land from the sixth hour to the ninth (Matthew 27:45), the veil was torn and the earth shook (Matthew 27:51), and the confession "truly this was the Son of God" came from a centurion rather than from an expert in signs. The sign from heaven was given, to a generation that had stopped asking, at the hour when it could no longer be treated as a demonstration.

Matthew 27:45 · Matthew 27:51 · Matthew 27:54

He left them and went away: the withdrawal of the Sign novel

The unit ends with two verbs of departure, καταλιπὼν (G2641, leaving behind, abandoning) and ἀπῆλθεν (G565). Gill reads it as leaving them as hardened, perverse and incurable; Pulpit as leaving them in righteous anger at their obduracy, and records that Jesus never again taught publicly or worked miracles on that spot, citing the apostolic rule about a man who is heretical after a first and second admonition (Titus 3:10-11). ⚙ Beyond what those commentators claim, the pattern recurs in the fourth Gospel, where after a last appeal to walk in the light Jesus departed and hid himself from them (John 12:36). Taken together the two departures suggest that in Christ the judgment on a refused sign is not thunder but absence: the Light withdraws, and the withdrawal is the sentence. This pairing of Matthew 16:4 with John 12:36 is the tool's own reading, not one recorded by the commentators in this unit.

John 12:36 · Titus 3:10

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text. Matthew 16:2b-3, the weather saying, is omitted by important manuscripts including Vaticanus and Sinaiticus and has no parallel in Mark; Ellicott and the Pulpit Commentary both argue for its genuineness on internal grounds, and Pulpit denies that it could have been imported from Luke 12:54-56. The address "O ye hypocrites," which stands in the older English versions of v. 3 and is discussed by Gill (who notes the Vulgate and Munster's Hebrew Gospel omit it) and by Pulpit (who notes that some uncials and many modern editors omit it), is absent from the BSB text and from this unit's interlinear, so no note is keyed to it.

Sources. Ten public-domain commentators are available for this unit, but the coverage is uneven. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown supply no exposition at all here, referring the reader to their notes on Mark 8:11-21, so no JFB voice is quoted. Matthew Henry's entry is a single concise block covering 16:1-4 rather than verse-by-verse comment. Ellicott and Cambridge have no note on v. 4 beyond a cross-reference to Matthew 12:39, and Poole's note on v. 2 simply points to v. 3. Poole's comment on v. 3 is written in the first person as though Christ were speaking: those words are Poole's paraphrase, not a quotation of Scripture, and the editorial note on that voice says so. Poole's five-point Jonah typology is expressly taken over from Chemnitius.

What is uncertain. Mark's form of the answer (Mark 8:12) gives no sign at all to this generation, without the Jonah exception; Ellicott and Cambridge both record the difference, and this synthesis does not attempt to harmonize the two reports. The Verifier's computed bases cover New Testament Greek only, so every Old Testament contact in this unit, including the explicitly named sign of Jonah, is tiered structural or typological and never verbal, since a Greek to Hebrew link cannot rest on a shared Strong's number. The Deuteronomy, Psalm, Hosea, Exodus, Numbers, Isaiah and Malachi references are motif-level identifications made by this synthesis and are offered as such; the Jonah reference alone is explicit in the Greek text. The rabbinic material Gill cites (the Mishnah passage on the Galilean Sadducee, the Zohar on the rainbow, the Targum on Ecclesiastes 7:24) is reproduced from Gill and has not been independently checked.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)