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Interpreting the Time(A)

16 When the Pharisees and Sadducees arrived, in order to test Jesus[a] they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He replied to them, “You say,

‘Red sky at night,
    what a delight!
Red sky in the morning,
    cloudy and storming.’

You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, yet you can’t interpret the signs of the times?[b] An evil and adulterous generation craves a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then he left them and went away.

The Yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees(B)

When his disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to take any bread along. Jesus told them, “Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!

As they began to discuss this among themselves, they kept saying, “We didn’t bring along any bread.”

Knowing this, Jesus asked them, “You who have little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you don’t have any bread? Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the 5,000 and how many baskets you collected, 10 or the seven loaves for the 4,000 and how many baskets you collected? 11 How can you fail to understand that I wasn’t talking to you about bread? Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!”

12 Then they understood that he did not say to beware of the yeast used in bread,[c] but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Peter Declares His Faith in Jesus(C)


14 They said, “Some say[d] John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”


16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah,[e] the Son of the living God!”

17 Then Jesus told him, “How blessed you are, Simon son of Jonah,[f] since flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, though my Father in heaven has. 18 I tell you that you are Peter,[g] and it is on this rock[h] that I will build my congregation,[i] and the powers of hell[j] will not conquer it. 19 I will give you the keys to the kingdom from[k] heaven. Whatever you prohibit on earth will have been prohibited[l] in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will have been permitted[m] in heaven.”

20 Then he strictly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.[n]

Jesus Predicts His Death and Resurrection(D)

21 From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he would have to go to Jerusalem and suffer a great deal because of the elders, the high priests, and the scribes. Then he would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised. 22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God be merciful to you, Lord! This must never happen to you!”

23 But Jesus[o] turned and told Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an offense[p] to me, because you are not thinking God’s thoughts but human thoughts!”

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow me, he must deny himself, pick up his cross, and follow me continuously. 25 Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it, 26 because what profit will a person have if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what can a person give in exchange for his life? 27 The Son of Man is going to come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay everyone according to what he has done. 28 I tell all of you[q] with certainty, some people standing here will not experience[r] death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”


  1. Matthew 16:1 Lit. him
  2. Matthew 16:3 Other mss. lack You say. . . the signs of the times?
  3. Matthew 16:12 Other mss. read the loaf of bread
  4. Matthew 16:14 The Gk. lacks say
  5. Matthew 16:16 Or Christ
  6. Matthew 16:17 Or Simon son of John; Lit. Simon bar Jonah; cf. John 1:42
  7. Matthew 16:18 Lit. Petros
  8. Matthew 16:18 Lit. petra
  9. Matthew 16:18 Or church
  10. Matthew 16:18 Lit. the gates of Hades, a reference to the realm of the dead
  11. Matthew 16:19 Lit. of
  12. Matthew 16:19 Or will be prohibited
  13. Matthew 16:19 Or will be permitted
  14. Matthew 16:20 Or Christ
  15. Matthew 16:23 Lit. he
  16. Matthew 16:23 Or a hindrance
  17. Matthew 16:28 The Gk. pronoun you is pl.
  18. Matthew 16:28 Lit. taste