New King James Version
Matthew 3:8
8Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance,
Matthew 3:8 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
- New International Version (NIV)Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
- New Living Translation (NLT)Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God.
Context of Matthew 3:8
6and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. 7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Read all of Matthew 3Matthew 3:8 word by word
ποιήσατε οὖν καρπὸν ἄξιον τῆς μετανοίας.Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Matthew 3:8
- Matthew 21:28“But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’
- Isaiah 1:16“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil,
- Luke 3:8Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
- Acts 26:20but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.
- Romans 2:4Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
- 2 Corinthians 7:10For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.
- 2 Peter 1:4by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
- Galatians 5:22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
- Ephesians 5:9(for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth),
- Philippians 1:11being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
- Jeremiah 7:3Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
- Jeremiah 26:13Now therefore, amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; then the Lord will relent concerning the doom that He has pronounced against you.
- Jeremiah 36:3It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the adversities which I purpose to bring upon them, that everyone may turn from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”
Commentaries on Matthew 3:8
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 8Bring forth therefore fruits - That is, the proper fruits of reformation; the proper evidence that you are sincere. Do not bring your cunning and dissimulation to this work; do not carry your hypocrisy into your professed repentance, but evince your sincerity by forsaking sin, and thus give evidence that this coming to Jordan to be baptized is not an act of dissimulation. No discourse could have been more appropriate or more cutting. Fruits - Conduct…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 7-12Verses 7-12 To make application to the souls of the hearers, is the life of preaching; so it was of John's preaching. The Pharisees laid their chief stress on outward observances, neglecting the weightier matters of the moral law, and the spiritual meaning of their legal ceremonies. Others of them were detestable hypocrites, making their pretences to holiness a cloak for iniquity. The Sadducees ran into the opposite extreme, denying the existence of…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 8Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance: John calls for action and real ethical change. Only talking about it is not enough (see Luke 3:10–14; compare Matthew 5:19–20, 46; 7:21; 23:3).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 88. Bring forth therefore fruits--the true reading clearly is "fruit"; meet for repentance--that is, such fruit as befits a true penitent. John now being gifted with a knowledge of the human heart, like a true minister of righteousness and lover of souls here directs them how to evidence and carry out their repentance, supposing it genuine; and in the following verses warns them of their danger in case it were not.Read the comment
Topics related to Matthew 3:8
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Matthew 3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Catena Aurea
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- John Lightfoot Commentary
- Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on Acts
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries