John 12:24

12:24 I tell you the solemn truth, ¹  unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself alone. ²  But if it dies, it produces ³  much grain. ⁴ 

Proverbs 11:30

11:30 The fruit of the righteous is like ⁵  a tree producing life, ⁶ 

and the one who wins souls ⁷  is wise. ⁸ 

Hosea 4:8

4:8 They feed on the sin offerings of my people;

their appetites long for their iniquity!

Luke 13:6-9

Warning to Israel to Bear Fruit

13:6 Then ⁹  Jesus ¹⁰  told this parable: “A man had a fig tree ¹¹  planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. 13:7 So ¹²  he said to the worker who tended the vineyard, ‘For ¹³  three years ¹⁴  now, I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and each time I inspect it ¹⁵  I find none. Cut ¹⁶  it down! Why ¹⁷  should it continue to deplete ¹⁸  the soil?’ 13:8 But the worker ¹⁹  answered him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year too, until I dig around it and put fertilizer ²⁰  on it. 13:9 Then if ²¹  it bears fruit next year, ²²  very well, ²³  but if ²⁴  not, you can cut it down.’”

Romans 6:22

6:22 But now, freed ²⁵  from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit ²⁶  leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life.

Romans 7:4

7:4 So, my brothers and sisters, ²⁷  you also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God. ²⁸ 

Romans 7:2

7:2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives, but if her ²⁹  husband dies, she is released from the law of the marriage. ³⁰ 

Colossians 1:10

1:10 so that you may live ³¹  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ³²  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

Galatians 5:22

5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit ³³  is love, ³⁴  joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ³⁵ 

Ephesians 5:9

5:9 for the fruit of the light ³⁶  consists in ³⁷  all goodness, righteousness, and truth –

Philippians 1:11

1:11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

Philippians 4:13

4:13 I am able to do all things ³⁸  through the one ³⁹  who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:17

4:17 I do not say this because I am seeking a gift. ⁴⁰  Rather, I seek the credit that abounds to your account.

Colossians 1:6

1:6 that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel ⁴¹  is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing ⁴²  among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.

Colossians 1:10

1:10 so that you may live ⁴³  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ⁴⁴  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

James 1:17

1:17 All generous giving and every perfect gift ⁴⁵  is from above, coming down ⁴⁶  from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change. ⁴⁷ 

James 1:2

Joy in Trials

1:2 My brothers and sisters, ⁴⁸  consider it nothing but joy ⁴⁹  when you fall into all sorts of trials,

James 1:2-18

Joy in Trials

1:2 My brothers and sisters, ⁵⁰  consider it nothing but joy ⁵¹  when you fall into all sorts of trials, 1:3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 1:4 And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you will be perfect and complete, not deficient in anything. 1:5 But if anyone is deficient in wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without reprimand, and it will be given to him. 1:6 But he must ask in faith without doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed around by the wind. 1:7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, 1:8 since he is a double-minded individual, ⁵²  unstable in all his ways.

1:9 Now the believer ⁵³  of humble means ⁵⁴  should take pride ⁵⁵  in his high position. ⁵⁶  1:10 But the rich person’s pride should be in his humiliation, because he will pass away like a wildflower in the meadow. ⁵⁷  1:11 For the sun rises with its heat and dries up the meadow; the petal of the flower falls off and its beauty is lost forever. ⁵⁸  So also the rich person in the midst of his pursuits will wither away. 1:12 Happy is the one ⁵⁹  who endures testing, because when he has proven to be genuine, he will receive the crown of life that God ⁶⁰  promised to those who love him. 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, ⁶¹  and he himself tempts no one. 1:14 But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. 1:15 Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death. 1:16 Do not be led astray, my dear brothers and sisters. ⁶²  1:17 All generous giving and every perfect gift ⁶³  is from above, coming down ⁶⁴  from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change. ⁶⁵  1:18 By his sovereign plan he gave us birth ⁶⁶  through the message of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

James 3:18

3:18 And the fruit that consists of righteousness ⁶⁷  is planted ⁶⁸  in peace among ⁶⁹  those who make peace.

[12:24]  ¹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[12:24]  ² tn Or “it remains only a single kernel.”

[12:24]  ³ tn Or “bears.”

[12:24]  ⁴ tn Grk “much fruit.”

[11:30]  ⁵ tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied for the sake of clarity.

[11:30]  ⁶ tn Heb “tree of life” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV). The noun חַיִּים (khayyim, “life”) is genitive of product. What the righteous produce (“fruit”) is like a tree of life – a long and healthy life as well as a life-giving influence and provision for others.

[11:30]  ⁷ tc The Leningrad Codex mistakenly vocalized ש (sin or shin) as שׂ (sin) instead of שׁ (shin) in the term נְפָשׂוֹת (nefashot) which is vocalized as נְפָשׁוֹת (nefasot, “souls”) in the other medieval Hebrew mss and early printed editions of the Masoretic Text.

[11:30]  ⁸ tc The MT reads חָכָם (khakham, “wise”) and seems to refer to capturing (לָקַח, laqakh; “to lay hold of; to seize; to capture”) people with influential ideas (e.g., 2 Sam 15:6). An alternate textual tradition reads חָמָס (khamas) “violent” (reflected in the LXX and Syriac) and refers to taking away lives: “but the one who takes away lives (= kills people) is violent” (cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV). The textual variant was caused by orthographic confusion of ס (samek) and כ (kaf), and metathesis of מ (mem) between the 2nd and 3rd consonants. If the parallelism is synonymous, the MT reading fits; if the parallelism is antithetical, the alternate tradition fits. See D. C. Snell, “‘Taking Souls’ in Proverbs 11:30,” VT 33 (1083): 362-65.

[13:6]  ⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[13:6]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:6]  ¹¹ sn The fig tree is a variation on the picture of a vine as representing the nation; see Isa 5:1-7.

[13:7]  ¹² tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the man’s response as a result of the lack of figs in the preceding clause.

[13:7]  ¹³ tn Grk “Behold, for.”

[13:7]  ¹⁴ sn The elapsed time could be six years total since planting, since often a fig was given three years before one even started to look for fruit. The point in any case is that enough time had been given to expect fruit.

[13:7]  ¹⁵ tn The phrase “each time I inspect it” is not in the Greek text but has been supplied to indicate the customary nature of the man’s search for fruit.

[13:7]  ¹⁶ tc ‡ Several witnesses (Ì⁷⁵ A L Θ Ψ 070 ˹³ 33 579 892 al lat co) have “therefore” (οὖν, oun) here. This conjunction has the effect of strengthening the logical connection with the preceding statement but also of reducing the rhetorical power and urgency of the imperative. In light of the slightly greater internal probability of adding a conjunction to an otherwise asyndetic sentence, as well as significant external support for the omission (א B D W ˹ Ï), the shorter reading appears to be more likely as the original wording here. NA²⁷ puts the conjunction in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.

[13:7]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “Why indeed.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[13:7]  ¹⁸ sn Such fig trees would deplete the soil, robbing it of nutrients needed by other trees and plants.

[13:8]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the worker who tended the vineyard) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:8]  ²⁰ tn Grk “toss manure [on it].” This is a reference to manure used as fertilizer.

[13:9]  ²¹ tn This is a third class condition in the Greek text. The conjunction καί (kai, a component of κάν [kan]) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[13:9]  ²² tn Grk “the coming [season].”

[13:9]  ²³ tn The phrase “very well” is supplied in the translation to complete the elided idea, but its absence is telling.

[13:9]  ²⁴ tn This is a first class condition in the Greek text, showing which of the options is assumed.

[6:22]  ²⁵ tn The two aorist participles translated “freed” and “enslaved” are causal in force; their full force is something like “But now, since you have become freed from sin and since you have become enslaved to God….”

[6:22]  ²⁶ tn Grk “fruit.”

[7:4]  ²⁷ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[7:4]  ²⁸ tn Grk “that we might bear fruit to God.”

[7:2]  ²⁹ tn Grk “the,” with the article used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[7:2]  ³⁰ tn Grk “husband.”

[1:10]  ³¹ tn The infinitive περιπατῆσαι (peripathsai, “to walk, to live, to live one’s life”) is best taken as an infinitive of purpose related to “praying” (προσευχόμενοι, proseucomenoi) and “asking” (αἰτούμενοι, aitoumenoi) in v. 9 and is thus translated as “that you may live.”

[1:10]  ³² tn BDAG 129 s.v. ἀρεσκεία states that ἀρεσκείαν (areskeian) refers to a “desire to please εἰς πᾶσαν ἀ. to please (the Lord) in all respects Col 1:10.”

[5:22]  ³³ tn That is, the fruit the Spirit produces.

[5:22]  ³⁴ sn Another way to punctuate this is “love” followed by a colon (love: joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control). It is thus possible to read the eight characteristics following “love” as defining love.

[5:22]  ³⁵ tn Or “reliability”; see BDAG 818 s.v. πίστις 1.a.

[5:9]  ³⁶ tc Several mss (Ì⁴⁶ D² Ψ Ï) have πνεύματος (pneumatos, “Spirit”) instead of φωτός (fwtos, “light”). Although most today regard φωτός as obviously original (UBS⁴ gives it an “A” rating), a case could be made that πνεύματος is what the author wrote. First, although this is largely a Byzantine reading (D² often, if not normally, assimilates to the Byzantine text), Ì⁴⁶ gives the reading much greater credibility. Internally, the φωτός at the end of v. 8 could have lined up above the πνεύματος in v. 9 in a scribe’s exemplar, thus occasioning dittography. (It is interesting to note that in both Ì⁴⁹ and א the two instances of φωτός line up.) However, written in a contracted form, as a nomen sacrum (pMnMs) – a practice found even in the earliest mss – πνεύματος would not have been easily confused with fwtos (there being only the last letter to occasion homoioteleuton rather than the last three). Further, the external evidence for φωτός is quite compelling (Ì⁴⁹ א A B D* F G P 33 81 1739 1881 2464 pc latt co); it is rather doubtful that the early and widespread witnesses all mistook πνεύματος for φωτός. In addition, πνεύματος can be readily explained as harking back to Gal 5:22 (“the fruit of the Spirit”). Thus, on balance, φωτός appears to be original, giving rise to the reading πνεύματος.

[5:9]  ³⁷ tn Grk “in.” The idea is that the fruit of the light is “expressed in” or “consists of.”

[4:13]  ³⁸ tn The Greek word translated “all things” is in emphatic position at the beginning of the Greek sentence.

[4:13]  ³⁹ tc Although some excellent witnesses lack explicit reference to the one strengthening Paul (so א* A B D* I 33 1739 lat co Cl), the majority of witnesses (א² D² [F G] Ψ 075 1881 Ï sy) add Χριστῷ (Cristw) here (thus, “through Christ who strengthens me”). But this kind of reading is patently secondary, and is a predictable variant. Further, the shorter reading is much harder, for it leaves the agent unspecified.

[4:17]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “Not that I am seeking the gift.” The phrase “I do not say this…” has been supplied in the translation to complete the thought for the modern reader.

[1:6]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “just as in the entire world it is bearing fruit.” The antecedent (“the gospel”) of the implied subject (“it”) of ἐστιν (estin) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:6]  ⁴² tn Though the participles are periphrastic with the present tense verb ἐστίν (estin), the presence of the temporal indicator “from the day” in the next clause indicates that this is a present tense that reaches into the past and should be translated as “has been bearing fruit and growing.” For a discussion of this use of the present tense, see ExSyn 519-20.

[1:10]  ⁴³ tn The infinitive περιπατῆσαι (peripathsai, “to walk, to live, to live one’s life”) is best taken as an infinitive of purpose related to “praying” (προσευχόμενοι, proseucomenoi) and “asking” (αἰτούμενοι, aitoumenoi) in v. 9 and is thus translated as “that you may live.”

[1:10]  ⁴⁴ tn BDAG 129 s.v. ἀρεσκεία states that ἀρεσκείαν (areskeian) refers to a “desire to please εἰς πᾶσαν ἀ. to please (the Lord) in all respects Col 1:10.”

[1:17]  ⁴⁵ tn The first phrase refers to the action of giving and the second to what is given.

[1:17]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “All generous giving and every perfect gift from above is coming down.”

[1:17]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “variation or shadow of turning” (referring to the motions of heavenly bodies causing variations of light and darkness).

[1:2]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited). Where the plural term is used in direct address, as here, “brothers and sisters” is used; where the term is singular and not direct address (as in v. 9), “believer” is preferred.

[1:2]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “all joy,” “full joy,” or “greatest joy.”

[1:2]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited). Where the plural term is used in direct address, as here, “brothers and sisters” is used; where the term is singular and not direct address (as in v. 9), “believer” is preferred.

[1:2]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “all joy,” “full joy,” or “greatest joy.”

[1:8]  ⁵² tn Grk “a man of two minds,” continuing the description of the person in v. 7, giving the reason that he cannot expect to receive anything. The word for “man” or “individual” is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But it sometimes is used generically to mean “anyone,” “a person,” as here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 2).

[1:9]  ⁵³ tn Grk “brother.” Here the term “brother” means “fellow believer” or “fellow Christian” (cf. TEV, NLT “Christians”; CEV “God’s people”). The term broadly connotes familial relationships within the family of God (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 2.a).

[1:9]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “the lowly brother,” but “lowly/humble” is clarified in context by the contrast with “wealthy” in v. 10.

[1:9]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “let him boast.”

[1:9]  ⁵⁶ tn Grk “his height,” “his exaltation.”

[1:10]  ⁵⁷ tn Grk “a flower of grass.”

[1:11]  ⁵⁸ tn Or “perishes,” “is destroyed.”

[1:12]  ⁵⁹ tn The word for “man” or “individual” here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” However, as BDAG 79 s.v. 2 says, here it is “equivalent to τὶς someone, a person.”

[1:12]  ⁶⁰ tc Most mss ([C] P 0246 Ï) read ὁ κύριος (Jo kurio", “the Lord”) here, while others have ὁ θεός (Jo qeo", “God”; 4 33^vid 323 945 1739 al). However, several important and early witnesses (̲³ א A B Ψ 81 co) have no explicit subject. In light of the scribal tendency toward clarification, and the fact that both κύριος and θεός are well represented, there can be no doubt that the original text had no explicit subject. The referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity, not because of textual basis.

[1:13]  ⁶¹ tn Or “God must not be tested by evil people.”

[1:16]  ⁶² tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[1:17]  ⁶³ tn The first phrase refers to the action of giving and the second to what is given.

[1:17]  ⁶⁴ tn Or “All generous giving and every perfect gift from above is coming down.”

[1:17]  ⁶⁵ tn Grk “variation or shadow of turning” (referring to the motions of heavenly bodies causing variations of light and darkness).

[1:18]  ⁶⁶ tn Grk “Having willed, he gave us birth.”

[3:18]  ⁶⁷ tn Grk “the fruit of righteousness,” meaning righteous living as a fruit, as the thing produced.

[3:18]  ⁶⁸ tn Grk “is sown.”

[3:18]  ⁶⁹ tn Or “for,” or possibly “by.”