and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’ ”
Parallel translations
- WEB If it bears fruit, fine; but if not, after that, you can cut it down.’”
- KJV And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.
- BSB If it bears fruit next year, fine. But if not, you can cut it down.’”
- NKJV And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’ ”
- NLT If we get figs next year, fine. If not, then you can cut it down.’”
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
If the tree bears fruit it is spared; if not, it will finally be cut down. Mercy delayed is not mercy denied, and judgment remains certain for the unfruitful.
Overview
The parable ends with an unresolved 'if,' leaving the hearers to decide their own response. God's patience has a limit, and continued barrenness after extra grace ends in removal. The call is to genuine repentance that issues in real fruit before the season of opportunity closes.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- John 15:2Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
- Heb 6:8but if it bears thorns and thistles, it is rejected and near being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
- 1 Th 2:15who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out, and didn’t please God, and are contrary to all men;
- Ps 69:22–28Let their table before them become a snare. May it become a retribution and a trap.
- Ezra 9:14–15shall we again break your commandments, and join in affinity with the peoples that do these abominations? Wouldn’t you be angry with us until you had consumed us, so that there would be no remnant, nor any to escape?
- Rev 16:5–7I heard the angel of the waters saying, “You are righteous, who are and who were, you Holy One, because you have judged these things.
- Dan 9:5–8we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from your precepts and from your ordinances;
- Rev 15:3–4They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God, the Almighty! Righteous and true are your ways, you King of the nations.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 13:9 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.