Discovery BoxMatthew 16:1-4 
Context16:1 Now when the Pharisees 1 and Sadducees 2 came to test Jesus, 3 they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. 4 16:2 He 5 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.’ 6 You know how to judge correctly the appearance of the sky, 7 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 8 he left them and went away.
1 sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.
2 sn See the note on Sadducees in 3:7.
3 tn The object of the participle πειράζοντες (peirazontes) is not given in the Greek text but has been supplied here for clarity.
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.
5 tn Grk “But answering, he said to them.” The construction has been simplified in the translation and δέ (de) has not been translated.
6 tn Or “red and gloomy” (L&N 14.56).
7 tn Grk “The face of the sky you know how to discern.”
8 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
