Discovery BoxMatthew 12:38-41 
Context12:38 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. 12:40 For just as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish 6 for three days and three nights, 7 so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. 12:41 The people 8 of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented when Jonah preached to them 9 – and now, 10 something greater than Jonah is here!
1 tn Or “Then some of the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
2 tn Grk “and Pharisees.” The word “some” before “Pharisees” has been supplied for clarification.
sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.
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.
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.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.
6 tn Grk “large sea creature.”
7 sn A quotation from Jonah 1:17.
8 tn Grk “men”; the word here (ἀνήρ, anhr) usually indicates males or husbands, but occasionally is used in a generic sense of people in general, as here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 1.a, 2).
9 tn Grk “at the preaching of Jonah.”
10 tn Grk “behold.”
