Matthew 16:3 Meaning and Explanation
“And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →They can read the morning sky for storms yet cannot read the far clearer signs of the hour they live in.
What Does Matthew 16:3 Mean?
Jesus completes the proverb: a red and lowering morning sky warns of foul weather ahead. Then he names the contradiction. These men are experts at the heavens above them but blind to the moment unfolding before them, when the promised work of God was breaking into the world.
He calls them hypocrites, those whose outward show does not match inward truth. The 'signs of the times' were all around: prophecy fulfilled, the blind seeing, the poor hearing good news. To miss them was not a failure of intelligence but of will. The same warning reaches us. God's hand is often plainer than we admit; the question is whether we will look.
Matthew 16:3 in the Original Language
hupokrites (ὑποκριτής), 'hypocrites' -- an actor wearing a mask, one whose outward role hides the real self.
Frequently Asked Questions About Matthew 16:3
What does Matthew 16:3 mean?
They can read the morning sky for storms yet cannot read the far clearer signs of the hour they live in.