Matthew 12:39

Of the passages mentioned in the introductory note on Matthew 12:38-42, Matthew 16:4 is verbally identical with the answer of our present verse, except the omission of the words, "the prophet," which occur nowhere else but in this passage.

But he answered and said to them, An evil ( πονηρά, Matthew 6:13, note) and adulterous generation. However frequent the sin of adultery may then have been, the common metaphorical sense of spiritual unfaithfulness to God and the practical worship of some other than Jehovah seems the more probable here (cf.

James 4:4; Revelation 2:20-23). Seeketh after ( ἐπιζητεῖ); Matthew 6:32. A sign; but there shall no sign be given to it. In Mark 8:12 our Lord's reply ends here. But the sign of the Prophet Jonas; Jonah the prophet (Revised Version).

In Matthew 16:4 and Luke 11:29 "the prophet" has been added in the Received Text.