Matthew 12:40 BSB — MannaFest

Matthew 12:40

For 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.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

KJV

For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

⋯

Commentary

1 voice

Athanasius of Alexandria

296–373

Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia, Section 8 (373)

We know that He, the Only-begotten Son of God, at the Father's bidding came from the heavens for the abolishment of sin, and was born of the Virgin Mary, and conversed with the disciples, and fulfilled the Economy according to the Father's will, and was crucified, and died and descended into the parts beneath the earth, and regulated the things there, Whom the gate-keepers of hell saw (Job xxxviii.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

Three days and three nights - It was customary with the eastern nations to reckon any part of a natural day of twenty-four hours, for the whole day. Accordingly they used to say a thing was done after three or seven days, if it was done on the third or seventh day, from that which was last mentioned.

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

Three days and three nights - Our Lord rose from the grave on the day but one after his crucifixion: so that, in the computation in this verse, the part of the day on which he was crucified, and the part of that on which he rose again, are severally estimated as an entire day; and this, no doubt, exactly corresponded to the time in which Jonah was in the belly of the fish.

J.C. Ryle

1816–1900

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew (1856)

The beginning of this passage is one of those places which strikingly illustrate the truth of Old Testament history. Our Lord speaks of the Queen of the South as a real, true person, who had lived and died. He refers to the story of Jonah, and his miraculous preservation in the whale’s belly, as undeniable matters of fact. Let us remember this if we hear men professing to believe the writers of the New Testament, and yet sneering at the things recorded in the Old Testament as if they were fables.

Voices on this verse

loading…

Original language & word study

30 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
ὥσπερ	hōsper	Just as	G5618 →
γὰρ	gar	for	G1063 →
ἦν	ēn	was	G1510 →
Ἰωνᾶς	Iōnas	Jonah	G2495 →
ἐν	en	in	G1722 →
τῇ	tēa	the	G3588 →
κοιλίᾳ	koilia	belly	G2836 →
τοῦ	tou	of the	G3588 →
κήτους	kētous	great fish	G2785 →
τρεῖς	treis	three	G5140 →
ἡμέρας	hēmeras	days	G2250 →
καὶ	kai	and	G2532 →
τρεῖς	treis	three	G5140 →
νύκτας,	nuktas	nights,	G3571 →
οὕτως	houtōs	so	G3779 →
ἔσται	estai	will be	G1510 →
ὁ	ho	the	G3588 →
υἱὸς	huios	Son	G5207 →
τοῦ	tou	<the>	G3588 →
ἀνθρώπου	anthrōpou	of Man	G444 →
ἐν	en	in	G1722 →
τῇ	tēa	the	G3588 →
καρδίᾳ	kardia	heart	G2588 →
τῆς	tēs	of the	G3588 →
γῆς	gēs	earth	G1093 →
τρεῖς	treis	three	G5140 →
ἡμέρας	hēmeras	days	G2250 →
καὶ	kai	and	G2532 →
τρεῖς	treis	three	G5140 →
νύκτας.¶	nuktas	nights.	G3571 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
John 2:19
Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.”
leads to
- Mark 14:58
  “We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this man-made temple, and in three days I will build another that is made without hands.’”
- Mark 15:29
  And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,
- Matthew 27:40
  and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross!”
- Matthew 26:60–61
  But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward
Through
Jonah 1:17
Now the LORD had appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish.
leads to
- Luke 11:30
  For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so the Son of Man will be a sign to this generation.
- Matthew 16:4
  A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Then He left them and went away.
Through
Matthew 16:21
From that time on Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and that He must…
leads to
- Luke 24:6–7
  He is not here; He has risen! Remember how He told you while He was still in Galilee:
- Matthew 20:17–19
  As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside and said,

Featured studies on this passage

On Matthew 12:40

The Binding of Isaac (Genesis 22), MannaFest

Open the study →

On Matthew 12:40

The Bronze Serpent

Christ's own chosen picture of his death. A four-moment story across 1,400 years: sin and plague, command and cure, idolatry and smashing, crucifixion and fulfillment.

Open the study →