Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance!
- KJV Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
- NKJV Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance,
- NASB Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance;
- NLT Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God.
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
John demands fruit worthy of repentance. Genuine repentance must show itself in a changed life.
Overview
True repentance, John insists, is proven by a transformed life, not just words or rituals. Confession without obedience is empty and offers no escape from judgment. This call for real fruit anticipates Jesus' own teaching that a tree is known by its fruit.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Luke 3:8Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
- Acts 26:20First to those in Damascus and Jerusalem, then to everyone in the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I declared that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds worthy of their repentance.
- 2 Pet 1:4–8Through these He has given us His precious and magnificent promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, now that you have escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
- Gal 5:22–23But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
- Phil 1:11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
- Eph 5:9for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.
- Isa 1:16–17Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil!
- Jer 36:3Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about all the calamity I plan to bring upon them, each of them will turn from his wicked way. Then I will forgive their iniquity and their sin.”
- Rom 2:4–7Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?
- Matt 21:28–30But what do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first one and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
- Jer 26:13So now, correct your ways and deeds, and obey the voice of the LORD your God, so that He might relent of the disaster He has pronounced against you.
- Jer 7:3–7Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Correct your ways and deeds, and I will let you live in this place.
- 2 Cor 7:10–11Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
- Matt 21:32For John came to you in a righteous way and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.
- Luke 3:10–14The crowds asked him, “What then should we do?”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 3:8 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.