But he answered them, ¹  “An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

This became known to all who lived in Ephesus, ¹  both Jews and Greeks; fear came over ²  them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was praised. ³ 

The ¹  whole imperial guard ²  and everyone else knows ³  that I am in prison ⁴  for the sake of Christ,

For there will be a time when people ¹  will not tolerate sound teaching. Instead, following their own desires, ²  they will accumulate teachers for themselves, because they have an insatiable curiosity to hear new things. ³ 

But the Lord ¹  struck down some of the people of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord; he struck down 50,070 ²  of the men. The people grieved because the Lord had struck the people with a hard blow.

They were all amazed so that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He even commands the unclean spirits and they obey him.”

As ¹  the crowds were increasing, Jesus ²  began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it looks for a sign, ³  but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. ⁴