but if it bears thorns and thistles, it is rejected and near being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
Parallel translations
- KJV But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.
- BSB But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless, and its curse is imminent. In the end it will be burned.
- NKJV but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
- NASB but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.
- NLT But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
But land that yields thorns and thistles is worthless, near to being cursed, and ends up burned. Fruitless profession faces rejection and judgment.
Overview
The same rain that blesses fruitful soil exposes barren soil that produces only thorns. Such ground is rejected and destined for burning, a picture of judgment on those who receive grace yet bear no genuine fruit. The image reinforces the warning of verses 4-6 and the necessity of true, persevering faith.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 24
- John 15:6If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
- Gen 3:17–18To Adam he said, “Because you have listened to your wife’s voice, and ate from the tree, about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ the ground is cursed for your sake. You will eat from it with much labor all the days of your life.
- Luke 13:7–9He said to the vine dresser, ‘Behold, these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and found none. Cut it down. Why does it waste the soil?’
- Deut 29:28Yahweh rooted them out of their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and thrust them into another land, as it is today.”
- Isa 5:1–7Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.
- Jer 44:22Thus Yahweh could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed; therefore your land has become a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is today.
- Heb 12:17For you know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for a change of mind though he sought it diligently with tears.
- Heb 10:27but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries.
- Mark 11:21Peter, remembering, said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered away.”
- Matt 7:19Every tree that doesn’t grow good fruit is cut down, and thrown into the fire.
- Job 31:40let briers grow instead of wheat, and stinkweed instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.
- Ps 107:34and a fruitful land into a salt waste, for the wickedness of those who dwell in it.
- Gen 5:29He named him Noah, saying, “This one will comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, caused by the ground which Yahweh has cursed.”
- Gen 4:11Now you are cursed because of the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
- Deut 29:22–23The generation to come, your children who will rise up after you, and the foreigner who will come from a far land, will say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses with which Yahweh has made it sick;
- Mal 4:1“For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up,” says Yahweh of Armies, “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
- Isa 27:10–11For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness. The calf will feed there, and there he will lie down, and consume its branches.
- Ezek 15:2–7“Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, the vine-branch which is among the trees of the forest?
- Jer 17:6For he shall be like a bush in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited.
- Ezek 20:47and tell the forest of the South, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word: Thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree in you, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned thereby.
- Rev 20:15If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.
- Matt 3:10“Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.
- Mark 11:14Jesus told it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” and his disciples heard it.
- Matt 25:41Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Hebrews is sustained worship of Christ: better than angels, Moses, and the priests; the great High Priest after Melchizedek who by one sacrifice perfects forever those he saves.
How Hebrews 6:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.