As with “When it is evening” in Matthew 16.2, in the morning is a general statement. “When the sky is red and threatening in the morning” or “Sometimes in the morning” are possible translations.

Not all languages use morning in the same way. For some it is the term used until noon, and for others it refers to a shorter period. However, in this context it is used for the early morning, when the sun is coming up and causes the sky sometimes to be red. “At dawn,” “When the sun is coming up,” or “Early in the morning” are expressions that can be used.

It will be stormy (Good News Translation “It is going to rain”) translates one word in Greek; its primary meaning is “rainy and stormy weather” (Acts 27.20) or “season of bad weather,” from which is derived the meaning “winter” (Matt 24.20; Mark 13.18; 2 Tim 4.21). It will be stormy has many equivalents in most languages; for example, “There will be storms today,” “The weather will be stormy today,” and “The weather will be very bad today.”

The words red and threatening describes a sky that is overcast and indicates that there will be a storm. However, it is the sun that turns these clouds red as it comes up.

As in verse 2, the order may need to be changed in many languages: “When it is red and threatening in the morning, you say there is going to be a storm” or “Some mornings you see that the sky is red and overcast, and you say it is going to be stormy that day.”

Interpret the appearance of the sky is more literally rendered in New Jerusalem Bible: “read the face of the sky.” The meaning is clearly “predict the weather by looking at the sky” (Good News Translation), which Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch arranges in a more natural order: “You can tell from the appearance of the sky what the weather will be like.” One can also translate “You can look at the sky and know what the weather will be like.”

But you cannot interpret the signs of the times represents a clause in which the verb interpret must be supplied in translation: “But the signs of the times you cannot.” The signs of the times appears in Good News Translation as “the signs concerning these times” and in Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch as “the events of this time.” Jesus is referring to his own deeds, especially his miracles, which attest to the presence of the Kingdom.

Interpret is often rendered “explain” or “understand.” “Say what (they) mean” is good in some contexts. There is an element of future in the word signs, so that “predict on the basis of these events what will happen” will express all the meaning clearly.

As we indicate above, signs of the times is generally translated in a way that refers to the things going at that time. Possible ways to render this sentence may include “you don’t know how to explain the things happening now,” “you don’t know what these things happening now indicate for the future,” or “there are things happening now, but you don’t know what they mean.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .