Matthew 12:33

Trees and Their Fruit

12:33 “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad ¹  and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is known by its fruit.

Isaiah 55:7

55:7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle ² 

and sinful people their plans. ³ 

They should return ⁴  to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, ⁵ 

and to their God, for he will freely forgive them. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 4:14

4:14 “Oh people of Jerusalem, purify your hearts from evil ⁷ 

so that you may yet be delivered.

How long will you continue to harbor up

wicked schemes within you?

Jeremiah 13:27

13:27 People of Jerusalem, ⁸  I have seen your adulterous worship,

your shameless prostitution to, and your lustful pursuit of, other gods. ⁹ 

I have seen your disgusting acts of worship ¹⁰ 

on the hills throughout the countryside.

You are doomed to destruction! ¹¹ 

How long will you continue to be unclean?’”

Ezekiel 18:31

18:31 Throw away all your sins you have committed and fashion yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! ¹²  Why should you die, O house of Israel?

Luke 6:45

6:45 The good person out of the good treasury of his ¹³  heart ¹⁴  produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasury ¹⁵  produces evil, for his mouth speaks ¹⁶  from what fills ¹⁷  his heart.

Luke 6:2

6:2 But some of the Pharisees ¹⁸  said, “Why are you ¹⁹  doing what is against the law ²⁰  on the Sabbath?”

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ²¹  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Hebrews 10:22

10:22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, ²²  because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience ²³  and our bodies washed in pure water.

James 4:8

4:8 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded. ²⁴ 

[12:33]  ¹ tn Grk “rotten.” The word σαπρός, modifying both “tree” and “fruit,” can also mean “diseased” (L&N 65.28).

[55:7]  ² tn Heb “Let the wicked one abandon his way.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ³ tn Heb “and the man of evil his thoughts.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “let him return.” The singular is collective, meaning “let them.”

[55:7]  ⁵ tn The imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive after the jussive indicates purpose/result.

[55:7]  ⁶ sn The appeal and promise of vv. 6-7 echoes the language of Deut 4:25-31; 30:1-10; and 1 Kgs 8:46-53, all of which anticipate the exile and speak of the prerequisites for restoration.

[4:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “Oh, Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil.”

[13:27]  ⁸ tn Heb “Jerusalem.” This word has been pulled up from the end of the verse to help make the transition. The words “people of” have been supplied in the translation here to ease the difficulty mentioned earlier of sustaining the personification throughout.

[13:27]  ⁹ tn Heb “[I have seen] your adulteries, your neighings, and your shameless prostitution.” The meanings of the metaphorical references have been incorporated in the translation for the sake of clarity for readers of all backgrounds.

[13:27]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “your disgusting acts.” This word is almost always used of idolatry or of the idols themselves. See BDB 1055 s.v. שִׁקֻּוּץ and Deut 29:17 and Jer 4:1; 7:30.

[13:27]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Woe to you!”

[18:31]  ¹² sn In Ezek 11:19, 36:26 the new heart and new spirit are promised as future blessings.

[6:45]  ¹³ tn Grk “the”; the Greek article has been translated here and in the following clause (“out of the evil”) as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[6:45]  ¹⁴ sn Mention of the heart shows that Jesus is not interested in what is done, but why. Motives are more important than actions for him.

[6:45]  ¹⁵ tn The word “treasury” is not repeated in the Greek text at this point, but is implied.

[6:45]  ¹⁶ sn What one utters from one’s mouth is especially singled out as the example of this principle. James seems to have known this teaching (Jas 1:26; 3:1-12).

[6:45]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

[6:2]  ¹⁸ sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

[6:2]  ¹⁹ tn Note that the verb is second person plural (with an understood plural pronominal subject in Greek). The charge is again indirectly made against Jesus by charging the disciples.

[6:2]  ²⁰ sn The alleged violation expressed by the phrase what is against the law is performing work on the Sabbath. That the disciples ate from such a field is no problem given Deut 23:25, but Sabbath activity is another matter in the leaders’ view (Exod 20:8-11 and Mishnah, m. Shabbat 7.2). The supposed violation involved reaping, threshing, winnowing, and preparing food. This probably explains why the clause describing the disciples “rubbing” the heads of grain in their hands is mentioned last, in emphatic position. This was preparation of food.

[1:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[10:22]  ²² tn Grk “in assurance of faith.”

[10:22]  ²³ sn The phrase our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience combines the OT imagery of the sprinkling with blood to give ritual purity with the emphasis on the interior cleansing provided by the new covenant: It is the heart that is cleansed and the conscience made perfect (cf. Heb 8:10; 9:9, 14; 10:2, 16).

[4:8]  ²⁴ tn Or “two-minded” (the same description used in 1:8).