For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.
Parallel translations
- WEB For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual sins, thefts, false testimony, and blasphemies.
- KJV For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
- BSB For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.
- NASB For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, acts of adultery, other immoral sexual acts, thefts, false testimonies, and slanderous statements.
- NLT For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.
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
Jesus lists the evils that come out of the heart—murders, adulteries, thefts, lies, and more. It matters because it shows sin originates within us, not in our circumstances.
Overview
Jesus catalogs the kinds of sin that flow from a corrupted heart, several of them echoing the commandments. The heart is the wellspring of evil thoughts and deeds, not a neutral place corrupted only from outside. This diagnosis confronts every person with the depth of inward sinfulness. It underscores the need for the new heart that the gospel of Christ alone provides.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Mark 7:21–23For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts,
- Gal 5:19–21Now the deeds of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness,
- Jer 17:9The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt. Who can know it?
- Titus 3:2–6to speak evil of no one, not to be contentious, to be gentle, showing all humility toward all men.
- Jas 1:13–15Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one.
- Prov 4:23Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.
- Gen 6:5Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was continually only evil.
- Jer 4:14Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?
- Rom 3:10–19As it is written, “There is no one righteous; no, not one.
- Acts 8:22Repent therefore of this, your wickedness, and ask God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.
- Isa 59:7Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. desolation and destruction are in their paths.
- Prov 6:14in whose heart is perverseness, who devises evil continually, who always sows discord.
- Ps 119:113I hate double-minded men, but I love your law.
- Isa 55:7Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
- Rom 7:18For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don’t find it doing that which is good.
- Eph 2:1–3You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins,
- Gen 8:21Yahweh smelled the pleasant aroma. Yahweh said in his heart, “I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake because the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth. I will never again strike every living thing, as I have done.
- Matt 9:4Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?
- Prov 24:9The schemes of folly are sin. The mocker is detested by men.
- Prov 22:15Folly is bound up in the heart of a child: the rod of discipline drives it far from him.
- Rom 8:7–8because the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be.
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 15:19 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
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