Even so, every good tree produces good fruit; but the corrupt tree produces evil fruit.
Parallel Translations
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Even so, every good tree produces good fruit; but the corrupt tree produces evil fruit.
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Euen soo every good tree bryngeth forthe good frute. But a corrupte tree bryngethe forthe evyll frute.
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So euery good tree bringeth foorth good fruite, and a corrupt tree bringeth forth euill fruite.
Cross-references (14)
Passages linked to Matthew 7:17 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Matthew 12:33-35 “Either make the tree good, and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by its fruit. You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. The good man out of his good treasure brings out good things, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings out evil things.
- Galatians 5:22-24 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.
- Ephesians 5:9 for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth,
- Psalms 1:3 He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that produces its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper.
- Psalms 92:13-14 They are planted in Yahweh’s house. They will flourish in our God’s courts. They will still produce fruit in old age. They will be full of sap and green,
- Jeremiah 17:8 For he will be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green, and will not be concerned in the year of drought. It won’t cease from yielding fruit.
- Luke 13:6-9 He spoke this parable. “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. He said to the vine dresser, ‘Behold, these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and found none. Cut it down. Why does it waste the soil?’ He answered, ‘Lord, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit, fine; but if not, after that, you can cut it down.’ ”
- Colossians 1:10 that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God,
- James 3:17-18 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
- Jeremiah 11:19 But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter. I didn’t know that they had devised plans against me, saying, “Let’s destroy the tree with its fruit, and let’s cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.”
- Philippians 1:11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
- Isaiah 61:3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, that he may be glorified.
- Jude 1:12 These 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;
- Isaiah 5:3-5 “Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes? Now 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.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good…
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
Ver. 17. Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit] i.e. All sound doctrine tends to good life, and rotten opinions to wretched practices. As, besides the old heretics, we see in the Papists (their priests especially), of whom the Lord Audely (Chancellor of England in King Henry VIII’s time) said to thirteen Calais men, prisoners for religion whom he discharged: "For God’s sake, sirs, beware how you deal with Popish priests; for I assure you, some of them be knaves all." {a} After the 1000th year of Christ, there was nowhere less piety than in those that dwelt nearest to Rome, as Machiavel himself observed, who yet was himself none of the best, as is well known; for he proposeth Caesar Borgia (notwithstanding all his villanies) as the only example for a prince to imitate. The Romish Pharisees, like the devils, are then thought to do well, when they cease to do hurt, saith Joannes Sarisburiensis. In popes (saith Papirius Massonius, a Papish writer, speaking of those popes that lived in the time of the Trent Council) no man today requireth holiness. They are thought to be very good, if not extreme evil; or anything better than the worse use to he. {b} The see of Rome, saith another, hath not merited lately to be ruled by any better than reprobates. Various popes have been necromancers, atheists, epicures, monsters, as Benno Cardinalis describes Hildebrand, {c} and Luitprandus reports of John XII, that he ordained priests in a stable among his horses, that he went in to his father’s concubines, that he drank a health to the devil, &c. Benedict XII had this epitaph set over him,
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" Hic situs est Nero, laicis more, vipera clero;
Devius a vero, turba repleta mero."
I am not ignorant what is the common putoff of Papists, when urged with these and the like histories; viz. Luitprandi illud non est, sed Anonymi cuiusdam, qui hoc historiae ipsius appenderit: Luitprandus never wrote any such thing, but some other nameless author, that hath pieced it to his history, saith Bellarmine and Baronius. But who this nameless author was, or when he lived, or how it may appear that it was so indeed, they say not a word. So if we cite Benno Cardinalis. Imo potius Lutheranus, on the contray, Luther is more preferred, saith Bellarmine and Florimund. How disdainfully they reject the Fathers when they make against them, I need not here recite. {d} I would sooner believe one pope than a thousand Augustines, saith a Jesuit. And yet, when they cannot be heard, they are ready straight to cry out, as that heretic Dioscorus did in the Council of Chalcedon, "I am cast out with the Fathers, I defend the doctrine of the Fathers, I transgress them not in any point." If we produce their own doctors and schoolmen as witnesses of the truth, these men, say they, are catholic authors, but they stand not recti in curia, correct in the council, they must be purged. {e} So witty are heretics rather to devise a thousand shifts to elude the truth than once to yield and acknowledge it. They will not receive the love of the truth (as the intemperate patient will not be ruled by the physician). And for this cause God delivers them up to strong delusions, vile affections, base and beastly practices; as committing and defending of sodomy, and such like abhorred filth, not once to be named among Christians. But some having put away a good conscience, as concerning faith have made shipwreck, saith the apostle. A good conscience is, as it were, a chest, wherein the doctrine of faith is to be kept safe; which will quickly be lost, if the chest be once broken. And they "that turn from the truth" will prove "abominable, disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate," Tit 1:14; Tit 1:16. Matthew Paris, speaking of the court of Rome, saith, Huius foetor usque ad nubes furnum taeterrimum exhalabat. It put out bad stink from the offensive ovens right up to the clouds.
{a} εκουσιως καταπινων το πικρον. Justin Martyr.
{b} In pontificibus nemo hodie sanctitatem requirit. Optimi putantur, si vel leniter mali, &c.
{c} Fuisse homicidam, adulterum, necromanticum, schismaticum, haereticum.
{d} Inde probo hoc illius esse, illud non esse, quia hae pro me sonat, illud contra me. Faust.
{e} Bellarmine saith to Irenaeus, Tertullian, Eusebius, and Luther. I answer, Omnes manifesti haeretici sunt.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit,.... Every…
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit,.... Every preacher and teacher that does not bring the Gospel of Christ with him, and plainly and faithfully preach it to the people, sooner or later,
is hewn down: however he may have appeared as a tall lofty cedar, and have carried it with a high hand against Christ and his Gospel, spoke "great swelling words of vanity", and behaved with much "loftiness" and "haughtiness"; yet the time comes on, when all this is bowed and made low, "and the Lord alone is exalted": such preachers are either cut off from the churches of Christ, or hewn down by death,
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and cast into the fire; into the fire of hell; into the lake of fire and brimstone, "where the beast and false prophet shall be".
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 17. So every good tree] As the thorn…
Verse 17. So every good tree] As the thorn can only produce thorns, not grapes; and the thistle, not figs, but prickles; so an unregenerate heart will produce fruits of degeneracy. As we perfectly know that a good tree will not produce bad fruit, and the bad tree will not, cannot produce good fruit, so we know that the profession of godliness, while the life is ungodly, is imposture, hypocrisy, and deceit. A man cannot be a saint and a sinner at the same time. Let us remember, that as the good tree means a good heart, and the good fruit, a holy life, and that every heart is naturally vicious; so there is none but God who can pluck up the vicious tree, create a good heart, plant, cultivate, water, and make it continually fruitful in righteousness and true holiness.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Mat 7:17-20. Even so — As grapes are not…
Mat 7:17-20. Even so — As grapes are not reaped from thorns, or figs from thistles, but the fruit will always be agreeable in its nature and kind to the tree that produces it; so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit — Scriptural doctrine, declared by holy men called of God to the work of the ministry, will certainly be more or less instrumental in turning men from the evil of their ways; and every minister of Christ, or even private Christian, who is renewed in the spirit of his mind, and made a tree of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, will bring forth the fruits of righteousness, to the praise and glory of God. For, in this respect, the fruits that men produce will certainly be answerable to the actual state and disposition of their hearts. Nor can it indeed be otherwise in the nature of things. For a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit — To do so would be to act contrary to its nature. Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit — To bring which forth there is no aptitude or tendency in its vicious nature. Every tree that — After a fair and competent time of trial; bringeth not forth good fruit — But either produces none, or none but what is pernicious or useless; is hewn down — How fair and flourishing soever it may seem to be; and cast into the fire — To its utter destruction. Such will be the end of hypocritical professors, and all ungodly men, especially ungodly ministers: they shall assuredly be overtaken by the righteous judgment of God.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain A corrupt tree - The word “corrupt” here does…
A corrupt tree - The word “corrupt” here does not signify, as our translation would seem to indicate, that the tree “had been” good, but had become “vitiated;” but that it was a tree of a useless character, of a nature that produced nothing beneficial.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain It is not to be understood from this text,…
It is not to be understood from this text, that a man who is once bad can never bring forth good fruit; but that as long as he remains in the state of sin, he cannot perform any meritorious action. (St. John Chrysostom, hom. xxiv.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit:…
Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit: but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 17, 18. Good tree… good fruit… corrupt tree… evil…
17, 18. Good tree… good fruit… corrupt tree… evil fruit — As the corruption of the tree lies back of the evil fruit, so the corruption of the man’s nature lies back of his evil doings. Corruption, depravity, then, lies not, as some teach, merely in the actions, but in the nature back of the actions. Bad actions usually grow out of a bad nature.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (17, 18) Even so every good tree. . .…
(17, 18) Even so every good tree. . . .—The two verses state nearly the same fact, but each presents a different aspect. First it is stated as a matter of practical experience, then the general fact is referred to a necessary law. If the tree is corrupt, i.e., rotten or decayed at the core, it cannot bring forth good fruit. If there is falseness in the teaching, or in the man, it will sooner or later show itself in his life, and then, even though we judge of the doctrine on other ground, we should cease to feel confidence in the guidance of the teacher.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Matthew only. Even so every good tree bringeth forth…
Matthew only. Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. The similarity between the fruit and the nature of the tree extends not only to the species, but also to the specimen. Good tree (dendron agayon); intrinsically sound. Good fruit (karpouv); attractive in the eyes of men. As is the inner character of the tree, so is the obvious nature of the fruit. But a corrupt tree (to de saprondron); "the" picturing it. Corrupt; unsound, rotten, worthless; (cf. Mat_13:48) also in the moral world. (Eph_4:29)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 17, 18. A good tree cannot bring forth evil…
17, 18. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit. The Lord points to the uniform law of nature. Every tree bears after its kind. As is the tree, so is the fruit. The same principle holds good in the moral world. A good man will show forth good deeds, while a bad man will bear fruit according to his nature.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.