No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.
Parallel translations
- WEB For there is no good tree that produces rotten fruit; nor again a rotten tree that produces good fruit.
- KJV For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
- NKJV “For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.
- NASB For there is no good tree that bears bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree that bears good fruit.
- NLT “A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit.
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
A tree's nature determines its fruit: good trees bear good fruit, rotten trees bad. Character inevitably reveals itself in conduct.
Overview
Jesus uses the familiar image of trees and fruit to teach that outward behavior flows from inward nature. One's deeds reveal the true state of the heart. This truth points to the need for inward transformation, for only a heart renewed by God in Christ can bear genuinely good fruit.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Jer 2:21I had planted you like a choice vine from the very best seed. How could you turn yourself before Me into a rotten, wild vine?
- Matt 12:33Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.
- Matt 7:16–20By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
- Matt 3:10The axe lies ready at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
- Ps 92:12–14The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
- Isa 5:4What more could I have done for My vineyard than I already did for it? Why, when I expected sweet grapes, did it bring forth sour fruit?
- Isa 61:3to console the mourners in Zion—to give them a crown of beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise for a spirit of despair. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 6:43 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.