Then
certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given it but the sign of Jonah the prophet. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, someone greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, someone greater than Solomon is here.
Matthew 12:38-42
Matthew 12 [33.] “Either make the tree good, and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by its fruit. You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. The good man out of his good treasure brings out good things, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings out evil things. I tell you that every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Matthew 12 [38.] Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”
Matthew 12 [39.] But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given it but the sign of Jonah the prophet. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, someone greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, someone greater than Solomon is here.
Matthew 12 [43.] When an unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places, seeking rest, and doesn’t find it. Then he says, ‘I will return into my house from which I came out,’ and when he has come back, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes, and takes with himself seven other spirits more evil than he is, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man becomes worse than the first. Even so will it be also to this evil generation.”
Meaning:
Jesus had just healed a blind and mute man possessed by a demon, and the Pharisees had accused him of casting out demons by the prince of demons. Now some scribes and Pharisees ask for “a sign.” They had already seen many miracles, so they were asking for something more: a spectacular, unmistakable proof on their own terms. Jesus refuses. The only sign this generation will receive is “the sign of Jonah,” his own death, burial and resurrection, and he warns that pagans from Israel’s past will rise in judgment against those who reject the One who is greater than Jonah and Solomon. Mark records a similar demand and refusal after the feeding of the four thousand (Mark 8:10-12).
- Why the demand for a sign was wrong
In Jewish thought a “sign from heaven” was a public, undeniable wonder that would prove a prophet’s authority beyond dispute, like fire from heaven or the sun standing still. The scribes and Pharisees addressed Jesus politely as “Teacher,” but their request came from hearts that had already decided against him. They had just explained away a clear miracle as the work of Satan, so no sign would have changed their minds. Paul later summed up this attitude: “Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified” (1 Corinthians 1:22-23).
Jesus calls them “an evil and adulterous generation.” “Adulterous” is covenant language from the prophets: Israel’s unfaithfulness to God was pictured as a wife unfaithful to her husband. Demanding proof while refusing the evidence already given was a form of spiritual unfaithfulness.
- The sign of Jonah
Jonah’s story was well known: a prophet swallowed by a great fish and brought out alive after three days and three nights, then sent to preach to Nineveh. Jesus applies it to himself. He would spend “three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” and then rise. Jews of the time counted any part of a day as a day, so Friday afternoon to Sunday morning fits this way of speaking. The resurrection would be the decisive sign, preached by the apostles as the heart of the Good News: Christ “was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
- Nineveh and the queen of the south
Jesus then shames his hearers with two examples of Gentiles. The people of Nineveh, capital of brutal Assyria, repented at the preaching of a reluctant prophet who performed no miracles for them. The queen of the south (the queen of Sheba, probably from southern Arabia) travelled a great distance just to hear Solomon’s wisdom. Both responded to far less light than Jesus’ hearers had. “Someone greater than Jonah” and “someone greater than Solomon” is here: greater than the prophets and greater than Israel’s wisest king. To reject him is more serious than anything those outsiders ever did.
- A repeated warning
Matthew records Jesus giving the same answer again when Pharisees and Sadducees came together to test him (Matthew 16:1-4). The repetition shows how persistent unbelief can be, and how consistently Jesus pointed people away from spectacle and toward repentance and faith in his death and resurrection.
The Significance of Matthew 12:38-42
- Faith is not built on demands
We can still treat God like a performer, promising to believe if he will only do what we ask. Jesus calls us instead to respond to the evidence he has already given, above all his resurrection. Faith rests on what God has done in Christ, not on signs made to order.
- Responding to greater light
The Ninevites and the queen of the south responded to a prophet and a king. We have heard the Good News of Jesus himself. That privilege brings responsibility: the right response is repentance, humble listening, and wholehearted trust in the risen Lord.
Cross-References:
Matthew 16:4: "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there will be no sign given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” He left them, and departed." Jesus repeats the sign of Jonah when tested again, and then walks away from those who refuse to believe.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4: "that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures" The sign of Jonah became the central message of the apostles: Christ’s death, burial and resurrection.
1 Corinthians 1:22-23: "For Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to Jews, and foolishness to Greeks" Paul faced the same demand for signs and answered it, as Jesus did, by pointing to the cross.
John 6:30: "What then do you do for a sign, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you do?" Even after the feeding of the five thousand, the crowd asked for another sign, showing that miracles alone do not create faith.
Conclusion: When the scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign, he offered only one: the sign of Jonah, fulfilled in his death and resurrection. The repentant Ninevites and the truth-seeking queen of the south stand as witnesses against hearts that demand proof while refusing to believe. Someone greater than Jonah and Solomon is here. The right response is not to ask for more signs but to turn to him in repentance and faith.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible