Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance;
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance!
- KJV Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
- BSB Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance.
- NKJV Therefore bear fruits worthy of 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 3:8Therefore produce fruits worthy of repentance, and don’t begin to say among yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father;’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones!
- Acts 26:20but declared first to them of Damascus, at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.
- 2 Pet 1:4–8by which he has granted to us his precious and exceedingly great promises; that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust.
- Gal 5:22–23But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,
- Phil 1:11being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
- Eph 5:9for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth,
- Isa 1:16–17Wash yourselves, make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil.
- Jer 36:3It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do to them; that they may each return from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”
- Rom 2:4–7Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
- Matt 21:28–30But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first, and said, ‘Son, go work today in my vineyard.’
- Jer 26:13Now therefore amend your ways and your doings, and obey Yahweh your God’s voice; and Yahweh will relent from the evil that he has pronounced against you.
- Jer 7:3–7Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says, “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
- 2 Cor 7:10–11For godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation, which brings no regret. But the sorrow of the world produces death.
- Matt 21:32For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn’t believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. When you saw it, you didn’t even repent afterward, that you might believe him.
- Luke 3:10–14The multitudes asked him, “What then must we do?”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 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.