Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Parallel translations
- WEB Every tree that doesn’t grow good fruit is cut down, and thrown into the fire.
- KJV Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
- BSB Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
- NASB Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
- NLT So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire.
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
Every tree that fails to bear good fruit is cut down and burned. Fruitlessness ends in judgment.
Overview
Echoing John the Baptist's warning, Jesus declares the fate of the fruitless tree: it is cut down and thrown into the fire. The image solemnly applies the fruit-test to final judgment, where lives are assessed by their genuine fruit. It warns that mere profession without the fruit of true faith cannot escape God's judgment.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Matt 3:10“Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.
- John 15:2–6Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
- Heb 6:8but if it bears thorns and thistles, it is rejected and near being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
- Luke 3:9Even now the ax also lies at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and thrown into the fire.”
- Jude 1:12These are hidden rocky reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you, shepherds who without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
- Luke 13:6–9He spoke this parable. “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none.
- Isa 27:11When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.
- Isa 5:5–7Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up. I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled down.
- Ezek 15:2–7“Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, the vine-branch which is among the trees of the forest?
- Matt 21:19–20Seeing a fig tree by the road, he came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves. He said to it, “Let there be no fruit from you forever!” Immediately the fig tree withered away.
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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 7:19 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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