For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.
Parallel translations
- WEB For each tree is known by its own fruit. For people don’t gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.
- BSB For each tree is known by its own fruit. Indeed, figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor grapes from brambles.
- NKJV For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.
- NASB For each tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush.
- NLT A tree is identified by its fruit. Figs are never gathered from thornbushes, and grapes are not picked from bramble bushes.
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
Each tree is known by its fruit, just as thorns yield no figs and brambles no grapes. A person's life reveals their true character.
Overview
This continues the fruit metaphor, stressing that one cannot disguise an evil nature with good appearances over time. Genuine spiritual life produces corresponding fruit. The verse encourages honest self-assessment and points to the necessity of being made a good tree through union with Christ, the source of all good fruit (John 15:5).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Matt 12:33Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.
- Jas 3:12Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
- Jude 1:12These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
- Gal 5:19–23Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
- Titus 2:11–13For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
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 6:44 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.