Matthew 7:7

Ask, Seek, Knock

7:7 “Ask ¹  and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door ²  will be opened for you.

Matthew 10:19

10:19 Whenever ³  they hand you over for trial, do not worry about how to speak or what to say, ⁴  for what you should say will be given to you at that time. ⁵ 

Matthew 13:12

13:12 For whoever has will be given more, and will have an abundance. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. ⁶ 

Matthew 16:4

16:4 A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then ⁷  he left them and went away.

Matthew 21:43

21:43 For this reason I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people ⁸  who will produce its fruit.

Matthew 25:29

25:29 For the one who has will be given more, ⁹  and he will have more than enough. But the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. ¹⁰ 

Matthew 12:39

12:39 But he answered them, ¹¹  “An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

¹ sn The three present imperatives in this verse (Ask…seek…knock) are probably intended to call for a repeated or continual approach before God.

² tn Grk “it”; the referent (a door) is implied by the context and has been specified in the translation here and in v. 8 for clarity.

³ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁴ tn Grk “how or what you might speak.”

⁵ tn Grk “in that hour.”

⁵ sn What he has will be taken from him. The meaning is that the one who accepts Jesus’ teaching concerning his person and the kingdom will receive a share in the kingdom now and even more in the future, but for the one who rejects Jesus’ words, the opportunity that that person presently possesses with respect to the kingdom will someday be taken away forever.

⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

⁹ tn Or “to a nation” (so KJV, NASB, NLT).

¹¹ tn Grk “to everyone who has, he will be given more.”

¹² sn The one who has nothing has even what he seems to have taken from him, ending up with no reward at all (see also Luke 8:18). The exact force of this is left ambiguous, but there is no comfort here for those who are pictured by the third slave as being totally unmoved by the master. Though not an outright enemy, there is no relationship to the master either.

¹³ tn Grk “But answering, he said to them.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.