Matthew 7:16

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Translations sourced from the public-domain WEB, KJV, and ASV. See all sources.

“By their fruits you will know them. Do you gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?”

— WEB

“Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?”

— KJV

“By their fruits ye shall know them. Do [men] gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?”

— ASV

Cross-references

Related verses via the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

Luke 6:43-45 "For there is no good tree that produces rotten fruit; nor again a rotten tree that produces good fruit."
James 3:12 "Can a fig tree, my brothers, yield olives, or a vine figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh water."
Matthew 12:33 "“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."
Matthew 7:20 "Therefore by their fruits you will know them."
2 Peter 2:10-18 "but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement, and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they are not afraid to …"
Jude 1:10-19 "But these speak evil of whatever things they don’t know. They are destroyed in these things that they understand naturally, like the crea…"

Commentary

Ye shall know them by their fruits--not their doctrines--as many of the elder interpreters and some later ones explain it--for that corresponds to the tree itself; but the practical effect of their teaching, which is the proper fruit of the tree. Do men gather grapes of thorns--any kind of prickly plant. or figs of thistles?--a three-pronged variety. The general sense is obvious--Every tree bears its own fruit.

— Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary (public domain)

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