The Sign of Jonah

The leaders ask for a sign, and Jesus answers that only the sign of Jonah will be given. He points to Jonah’s three days, the repentance of Nineveh, and the Queen of the South, each standing against a generation that has greater light before it.

T³⁸hen some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” ³⁹Jesus replied, “A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. ⁴⁰For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. ⁴¹The men of Nineveh will stand at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now One greater than Jonah is here. ⁴²The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and now One greater than Solomon is here.