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Trees and Their Fruit

33 “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad[a] and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is known by its fruit. 34 Offspring of vipers! How are you able to say anything good, since you are evil? For the mouth speaks from what fills the heart. 35 The good person[b] brings good things out of his[c] good treasury,[d] and the evil person brings evil things out of his evil treasury.

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Footnotes

  1. Matthew 12:33 tn Grk “rotten.” The word σαπρός, modifying both “tree” and “fruit,” can also mean “diseased” (L&N 65.28).
  2. Matthew 12:35 tn The Greek text reads here ἄνθρωπος (anthrōpos). The term is generic referring to any person.
  3. Matthew 12:35 tn Grk “the”; the Greek article has been translated here and in the following clause (“his evil treasury”) as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).
  4. Matthew 12:35 sn The treasury here is a metaphorical reference to a person’s heart (cf. BDAG 456 s.v. θησαυρός 1.b and the parallel passage in Luke 6:45).

33 “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.(A) 34 You brood of vipers,(B) how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks(C) what the heart is full of. 35 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.

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