Matthew 7:18

Matthew 7:17 and Matthew 7:18 are the seventeenth and eighteenth verses of the seventh chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament and is part of the Sermon on the Mount. This verse continues the section warning against false prophets.

In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:

The World English Bible translates the passage as:

For a collection of other versions see BibRef Matthew 7:17-18

These two verses closely match each other. Hill notes that the structure here is a classic Semitic way of emphasizing a point: first a statement is said positively and then repeated negatively. The first half of the statement is taken directly from John the Baptist words at Matthew 3:10.

Schweitzer notes how fundamental the call for change is in this verse. Piety does not mean just changing exterior fruits, but rather a radical conversion from one type of being to another. It is, adds Schweitzer, “a transformed heart producing a transformed life.”

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