The Fallible Study Bible

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Luke6:43–45

A Tree and Its Fruit

✦ Public-domain source — quoted & attributed⚙ AI synthesis — generated, verify

Luke 6:43–45 — A Tree and Its Fruit. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

43

No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

gar estin Ou kalon dendron poioun sapron karpon oude palin sapron dendron poioun kalon karpon

Word by word15 · parsed
γάρgarG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
gar: for Grounds the saying in what precedes (the critic with a beam in his eye, 6:41 to 42): the tree saying explains why the hypocrite cannot truly mend his brother.
ἐστινestinG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
eimi: to be With the participle, a statement about what a tree is, not merely what it does.
ΟὐOuNoG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
Absolute negative, fronted for emphasis: no exceptions are contemplated.
καλὸνkalongoodG2570
√ καλός — X better, fair, good(-ly), honest, meet, well, worthyAdjectiveNominative Neuter Singular
kalos: good, sound, fine Kalos is goodness that is visible and fit for purpose: a sound tree, a fine fruit. Luke switches to agathos in v. 45 when he moves from the orchard to the man; the pairing suggests that the visible soundness of v. 43 rests on the inward goodness of v. 45.
δένδρονdendrontreeG1186
√ δένδρον — a treeNounNominative Neuter Singular
ποιοῦνpoiounbearsG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Neuter Singular
poieō: to make, do, produce Present participle: characteristic, ongoing production. The verb that elsewhere means “to do” (6:46, “do not do what I say”) here means “to bear,” quietly preparing the turn from fruit to obedience three verses later.
σαπρόνsapronbadG4550
√ σαπρός — rotten, iAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Singular
sapros: rotten, corrupt A rare word (6 verses in the Verifier's count). Its NT uses (rotten fish, Matt 13:48; corrupt speech, Eph 4:29) keep the sense of something decayed from within, unfit for use. Jesus does not say “small” or “sparse” fruit but rotten: the defect is in the nature, not the yield.
καρπὸνkarponfruitG2590
√ καρπός — fruit (as plucked), literally or figurativelyNounAccusative Masculine Singular
karpos: fruit The governing image of the unit (three times in vv. 43 to 44). In the prophets and the Baptist's preaching (Luke 3:8, 9) fruit is the visible evidence of repentance or its absence; Jesus takes up the same figure.
οὐδὲoudenorG3761
√ οὐδέ — not however, iConjunction
πάλινpalin[does]G3825
√ πάλιν — (adverbially) anew, iAdverb
σαπρὸνsapron[a] badG4550
√ σαπρός — rotten, iAdjectiveNominative Neuter Singular
sapros: rotten Now describing the tree itself: rottenness of fruit is traced to rottenness of the stock.
δένδρονdendrontreeG1186
√ δένδρον — a treeNounNominative Neuter Singular
ποιοῦνpoiounbearG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Neuter Singular
καλόνkalongoodG2570
√ καλός — X better, fair, good(-ly), honest, meet, well, worthyAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Singular
kalos: good The reversal closes the symmetry: the logic runs both ways, so neither a pretended goodness nor a pretended badness survives inspection.
καρπὸνkarponfruitG2590
√ καρπός — fruit (as plucked), literally or figurativelyNounAccusative Masculine Singular
44

For each tree is known by its own fruit. Indeed, figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor grapes from brambles.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

gar hekaston dendron ginōsketai ek tou idiou karpou gar ou syka syllegousin ex akanthōn oude trygōsin staphylēn ek batou

Word by word19 · parsed
γὰρgarForG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
Explanatory: v. 44 states the general principle behind v. 43.
ἕκαστονhekastoneachG1538
√ ἕκαστος — each or everyAdjectiveNominative Neuter Singular
hekastos: each Individualizing: every tree, each on its own, is under this test.
δένδρονdendrontreeG1186
√ δένδρον — a treeNounNominative Neuter Singular
γινώσκεταιginōsketaiis knownG1097
√ γινώσκω — to "know" (absolutely) in a great variety of applications and with many implications (as follow, with others not thus clearly expressed)VerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
ginōskō: to know, recognize Present passive: the knowing is ongoing and public, done by observers over time. This is not a license for the hasty censure just forbidden (6:37); it describes how character discloses itself through a pattern of fruit, which Poole and Gill read as the ordinary course of life rather than a single act.
ἐκekbyG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
ek: out of Source, not merely means: knowledge is drawn out of the fruit.
τοῦtouitsG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ἰδίουidiouownG2398
√ ἴδιος — pertaining to self, iAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Singular
idios: one's own Emphatic possessive: the fruit proper to the tree's nature.
καρποῦkarpoufruitG2590
√ καρπός — fruit (as plucked), literally or figurativelyNounGenitive Masculine Singular
karpos: fruit Third and last use in the tree image before v. 45 translates the figure into heart and speech.
γὰρgarIndeedG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
οὐouvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
σῦκαsykafigsG4810
√ σῦκον — a figNounAccusative Neuter Plural
sykon: fig Rare (4 verses). Figs and grapes are Israel's emblem fruits of blessing (e.g. Micah 4:4); the image is homely and covenantal at once.
συλλέγουσινsyllegousinare not gatheredG4816
√ συλλέγω — to collectVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
syllegō: to collect, gather Third person plural with indefinite subject: “people gather,” i.e. “are gathered.” The same verb is used for gathering good fish into vessels (Matt 13:48).
ἐξexfromG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
ἀκανθῶνakanthōnthornbushesG173
√ ἄκανθα — a thornNounGenitive Feminine Plural
akantha: thorn Thorns belong to the curse on the ground (Gen 3:18, in the Greek Old Testament also akantha, though the brief's Verifier does not compute cross-Testament links) and choke the seed in Luke 8:7, 14.
οὐδὲoudenorG3761
√ οὐδέ — not however, iConjunction
τρυγῶσινtrygōsinG5166
√ τρυγάω — to collect the vintageVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
trygaō: to harvest the vintage Very rare (3 verses). A technical vintage word; its only other NT setting is the angel's harvest of the earth's vine in Revelation 14:18 to 19.
σταφυλὴνstaphylēngrapesG4718
√ σταφυλή — a cluster of grapes (as if intertwined)NounAccusative Feminine Singular
ἐκekfromG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
βάτουbatoubramblesG942
√ βάτος — a brier shrubNounGenitive Feminine Singular
batos: bramble bush Rare (5 verses). Ellicott notes it is the same word used for the burning bush (Luke 20:37; Acts 7:30, 35). Whether Luke intends any resonance is not stated; the shared word is a fact, the significance is uncertain.
45

The good man brings good things out of the good treasure of his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil treasure of his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

ho agathos anthrōpos propherei agathon to ek tou agathou thēsaurou tēs autou kardias kai ho ponēros propherei to ponēron ek tou ponērou gar ek perisseumatos kardias autou to stoma lalei

Word by word30 · parsed
ὁhoTheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἀγαθὸςagathosgoodG18
√ ἀγαθός — "good" (in any sense, often as noun)AdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
agathos: good Inward, beneficial goodness. Jesus will say in Luke 18:19 that “no one is good (agathos) except God alone”; read together, the good man of this verse cannot be self-made, a point the commentators below draw from regeneration and grace.
ἄνθρωποςanthrōposmanG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounNominative Masculine Singular
προφέρειprophereibringsG4393
√ προφέρω — to bear forward, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
prophérō: to bear forward, bring out Present active: the man habitually brings out to view what is stored within. Twice in the verse, once for each man: the same act, opposite stock.
ἀγαθόνagathongoodG18
√ ἀγαθός — "good" (in any sense, often as noun)AdjectiveAccusative Neuter Singular
agathos: good Neuter with the article: “the good,” what is good as a whole.
τὸtothingsG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
ἐκekout ofG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
τοῦtoutheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ἀγαθοῦagathougoodG18
√ ἀγαθός — "good" (in any sense, often as noun)AdjectiveGenitive Masculine Singular
θησαυροῦthēsauroutreasureG2344
√ θησαυρός — a deposit, iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
thēsauros: deposit, storehouse Luke's other use of the heart and treasure together is 12:34, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Here the order is reversed: the heart is itself the treasury, and the mouth draws from it.
τῆςtēsofG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
αὐτοῦautouhisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
καρδίαςkardiasheartG2588
√ καρδία — the heart, iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
kardia: heart In biblical usage the center of thought, will and desire, not only feeling. The unit's metaphor resolves here: the root of the tree in vv. 43 to 44 is the heart. Poole says exactly this (“The heart of man is made the root”).
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
πονηρὸςponērosevil [man]G4190
√ πονηρός — hurtful, iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
ponēros: evil, hurtful Active badness, harmful to others; the same word as “the evil one” and “deliver us from evil” in Matthew's prayer. Stronger than the sapros (rotten) of the tree image.
προφέρειprophereibringsG4393
√ προφέρω — to bear forward, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸtoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
πονηρόνponēronevil [things]G4190
√ πονηρός — hurtful, iAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Singular
ponēros: evil Neuter: “the evil (thing).”
ἐκekout ofG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
τοῦtoutheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
πονηροῦponērouevil [treasure of his heart]G4190
√ πονηρός — hurtful, iAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Singular
ponēros: evil Elliptical; supply “treasure of the heart” from the parallel.
γὰρgarForG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
gar: for Introduces the principle that explains both halves of the verse.
ἐκekout ofG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
περισσεύματοςperisseumatosthe overflowG4051
√ περίσσευμα — a surplus, or superabundanceNounGenitive Neuter Singular
perisseuma: surplus, overflow Rare (4 verses). Its other uses are the leftover fragments after the feeding (Mark 8:8) and the Corinthians' surplus supplying others' need (2 Cor 8:14): in each case, what is more than enough and therefore spills outward.
καρδίαςkardiasof the heartG2588
√ καρδία — the heart, iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
kardia: heart Second use: the overflow is of the heart, not of the circumstances.
αὐτοῦautouG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Possessive “his.” Gill reports several ancient versions omit it; the Greek printed here includes it.
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
στόμαstomamouthG4750
√ στόμα — the mouth (as if a gash in the face)NounNominative Neuter Singular
stoma: mouth The mouth is the outlet, not the origin. The sermon's subject since 6:37 has been judging and speaking about others; the mouth is where that tree shows its fruit.
λαλεῖlaleispeaksG2980
√ λαλέω — to talk, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
laleō: to speak, talk The ordinary verb for talk, present tense: everyday speech, not formal pronouncements, is what reveals the store within.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The saying in its place: after the speck and the beam — Luke 6:43

⚙ Luke's γάρ (“for”) ties the tree saying to the warning against judging (6:37 to 42). The Geneva note draws the line plainly: “Skill in reprehending others does not make a good man.” Benson reads the whole passage as a test of the critic: “a man is known to be either good or bad by his words,” especially when he passes judgment on others. Ellicott (v. 45) fills in the fruit itself: the good treasure yields “kindness, gentleness, compassion,” the evil one “harsh surmises, and uncharitable condemnation.” Gill notes that Matthew uses the same images of false prophets (Matt 7:15 to 20), while in Luke they seem to apply to true believers and hypocrites.

ii. The orchard: what the fruit reveals — Luke 6:43 to 44

The Greek is built on symmetry: a καλὸν (sound) tree does not produce σαπρόν (rotten) fruit, “nor again” the reverse. The present participle ποιοῦν describes what a tree characteristically is. Poole makes the figure explicit: “The heart of man is made the root,” and outward actions are “the imperate acts of the heart and of the will.” The Pulpit Commentary guards the saying against Manichaean dualism: the text does not teach two fixed races of men, only that “if he would do good he must first be good.” Verse 44 states the rule of recognition (γινώσκεται, “is known”) and grounds it in common sight: figs and grape clusters do not come from thorns and brambles. Ellicott notices that Luke uses a second, vintage verb (τρυγῶσιν) and that βάτος is the word for the burning bush. Gill draws the hard conclusion: “no more can an unregenerate man perform good works.”

iii. The storehouse and the mouth — Luke 6:45

Here the image is translated. The tree becomes ὁ ἀγαθὸς ἄνθρωπος; its root becomes the θησαυρὸς τῆς καρδίας, the heart's storehouse; its fruit becomes speech. The final clause names the mechanism: the mouth speaks ἐκ περισσεύματος, out of what the heart can no longer hold. Henry states it as a sober rule of thumb: “what the mouth commonly speaks, generally agrees with what is most in the heart.” Barnes notes that this verse appears in Matthew not in the Sermon on the Mount but at 12:35, and Cambridge sets it beside Matthew 12:34 (“how can ye, being evil, speak good things?”) and Isaiah 32:6. ⚙ The unit therefore ends not with a technique for better speech but with a diagnosis: change what is stored, and the overflow changes.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ Read with Scripture alone and offered to be tested: Jesus is not giving the judging disciple a tool for sorting others, but a mirror. The saying follows directly on the beam in one's own eye, and its last word is about the mouth that speaks from his heart. The fruit test is real (6:44), yet it is turned first on the one who would use it. The text also refuses moralism: if rotten fruit comes from a rotten tree, more effort on the fruit will not help. What is needed is a good tree, and Jesus has just said (as Luke 18:19 will repeat) that goodness in the full sense belongs to God. The passage thus presses the hearer toward the new heart God promises (Ezekiel 36:26) and toward the next verses, where the only sound foundation is hearing and doing the words of the Lord (6:46 to 49). This reading is a fallible synthesis; the cross references to Luke 18:19 and Ezekiel 36:26 are my connections, not the commentators'.

Jesus does not hand the critic a tool for sorting trees; he holds up a mirror to the one holding the shears.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The Matthean parallel: the tree and its fruit in the Sermon on the Mount verbal / quotation: confirmed

Luke 6:43 to 44 runs closely parallel to Matthew 7:16 to 18. Ellicott notes the difference in pairing: in Matthew grapes come with thorns and figs with thistles; Luke pairs figs with thorns and a grape cluster with the bramble. The shared rare word σταφυλή (grape cluster) and the identical frame of kalos tree, karpos, and dendron make this a confirmed verbal parallel within the synoptic tradition. In Matthew the saying targets false prophets; in Luke it follows the warning against judging (Gill).

Matthew 7:16 · Matthew 7:17 · Matthew 7:18

basis: Verifier: Matthew 7:16 shares G4718 σταφυλή (in 3 vv, rare) and G2590 καρπός (in 56 vv); Matthew 7:17 and 7:18 share G2590 καρπός (56 vv), G1186 δένδρον (18 vv), G2570 καλός (90 vv). Synoptic parallel of the same saying.

Overflow of the heart: the Beelzebul controversy verbal / quotation: confirmed

Luke 6:45 has its closest parallel in Matthew 12:34 to 35, where Jesus answers the charge that he casts out demons by Beelzebul. Barnes and Ellicott both point there; Cambridge quotes “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things?” The rare noun περίσσευμα (4 verses) is shared, together with ponēros and laleō. In Matthew the saying exposes the Pharisees' slander of Jesus; in Luke it exposes the censorious critic.

Matthew 12:33 · Matthew 12:34 · Matthew 12:35

basis: Verifier: Matthew 12:34 shares G4051 περίσσευμα (in 4 vv, rare), G4190 πονηρός (72 vv), G2980 λαλέω (273 vv); Matthew 12:33 shares G2590 καρπός (56 vv), G1186 δένδρον (18 vv), G2570 καλός (90 vv). Parallel saying in a different setting.

The vintage verb: from the bramble to the harvest of the earth verbal / quotation: confirmed

Ellicott observes that Luke's second verb, τρυγάω, is the technical word for gathering the vintage, the word used in Revelation 14:18 to 19, where the angel gathers the clusters (σταφυλή) of the vine of the earth for the winepress of God's wrath. Both words are very rare in the NT (3 verses each). ⚙ The verbal link is real; any deliberate allusion between Luke and Revelation is not claimed. Read canonically, it is sobering: the fruit by which a tree is known now is the fruit that will be harvested at the end.

Revelation 14:18 · Revelation 14:19

basis: Verifier: Revelation 14:18 shares G5166 τρυγάω (in 3 vv) and G4718 σταφυλή (in 3 vv); Revelation 14:19 shares G5166 τρυγάω (3 vv). Shared rare vocabulary, not a quotation or proven allusion.

Can a fig tree bear olives? James on the tongue structural / thematic: confirmed

James 3:10 to 12 applies the same logic to speech: blessing and cursing should not come from one mouth, any more than a fig tree yields olives or a vine figs. The shared rare σῦκον (4 verses) and the shared subject (the mouth revealing the source) make this a strong thematic link. ⚙ Many readers hear James echoing the teaching of Jesus here, but James does not cite it, so no quotation is claimed.

James 3:12

basis: Verifier: shared G4810 σῦκον (in 4 vv); shared motif of fruit-from-source applied to speech; no citation, so not tiered as quotation.

The bramble and the burning bush flagged: verify source

Ellicott points out that βάτος (bramble) is the word Luke uses for the burning bush in 20:37 and that Acts 7:30, 35 uses it the same way, following the Greek of Exodus 3:2 to 4. The lexical fact is secure. Whether Luke intends any resonance (the worthless bramble here, the bush where God revealed his name there) is not said by any source in the brief and may be coincidence of vocabulary.

Luke 20:37 · Acts 7:30 · Acts 7:35 · Exodus 3:2

basis: Verifier: shared G942 βάτος (in 5 vv) with Luke 20:37, Acts 7:30, 7:35. The link to Exodus 3:2 is cross-Testament (Ellicott via the LXX; no shared Strong's possible). Lexical link real; theological resonance unattested.

The vile person speaks villainy: Isaiah's diagnosis structural / thematic: confirmed

Cambridge sets Isaiah 32:6 beside v. 45: the fool speaks folly and the vile person villainy, because the heart works iniquity. The connection is the same principle (speech flows from the heart's character) in a prophetic description of the false leader whom the righteous king will replace (Isa 32:1). Because Isaiah is Hebrew and Luke Greek, no shared Strong's lexeme can be computed.

Isaiah 32:6

basis: Cited by Cambridge on Luke 6:45; cross-Testament (Hebrew to Greek), so no shared Strong's basis; shared motif of speech revealing a corrupt heart, not a quotation.

The tree by the waters and the heart that is searched structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ Jeremiah 17:7 to 10 joins the same three ideas as this unit: the one who trusts the LORD is a tree planted by water that does not cease to bear fruit (17:8); the heart is deceitful above all things (17:9); and the LORD searches the heart to give each according to “the fruit of his doings” (17:10). This is my own connection, not drawn from the commentators in the brief; it is cross-Testament and therefore tiered structural.

Jeremiah 17:8 · Jeremiah 17:9 · Jeremiah 17:10

basis: ⚙ Tool's own cross-Testament link (Hebrew to Greek; no shared Strong's possible): shared pattern of tree, fruit and heart; no quotation claimed.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

Grafted into the good tree ancient/widely-held

⚙ If only a good tree bears good fruit, the question becomes how a rotten tree is made good. Gill answers that believers are “trees of righteousness” (Isa 61:3), “rooted in Christ, and filled with the fruits of righteousness by him.” Henry prays that “the word of Christ be so grafted in our hearts, that we may be fruitful in every good word and work.” Jesus himself later names the source: “I am the vine, you are the branches; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5), and Paul names the fruit as “the fruit of the Spirit” (Gal 5:22). That fruit comes from union with Christ is the widely held reading of the church.

John 15:5 · Isaiah 61:3 · Galatians 5:22

A new treasure in the heart ancient/widely-held

⚙ Verse 45 locates the problem in the storehouse, not the mouth. The prophets promised the remedy: a new heart and a new spirit (Ezek 36:26), the law written on the heart (Jer 31:33). Paul presents these promises as fulfilled through Christ in the new covenant (2 Cor 3:3, 6). The Pulpit Commentary notes that the saying does not mean anything is “irrevocably fixed in men's natures”; ⚙ the gospel's answer is that the heart can be changed, by God's act and not by effort on the fruit. This new-covenant reading is widely held.

Ezekiel 36:26 · Jeremiah 31:33 · 2 Corinthians 3:3

The one good man whose mouth spoke only good novel

⚙ Luke has already shown the crowd marveling at “the gracious words that came from his mouth” (Luke 4:22), and Peter says of Christ that “no deceit was found in his mouth” (1 Pet 2:22, from Isa 53:9). Read together with v. 45, Jesus is the one man whose heart's treasure was wholly good, so that his words were wholly good. The sinlessness of Christ is ancient doctrine; applying this verse to him directly is my own reading and is offered as such.

Luke 4:22 · 1 Peter 2:22 · Isaiah 53:9

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text. The Greek follows the brief's interlinear; its word order lists γάρ and ἐστιν before Οὐ in v. 43 and ἀγαθόν before τὸ in v. 45, an artifact of the alignment; the literal renderings follow the natural Greek order. In v. 44 the interlinear gloss for οὐ (index 9) is a placeholder (“vvv”); the negation is folded into “are not gathered.” Gill reports that several ancient versions omit “for” in v. 43 and “his” in v. 45; both are present in the Greek printed here, and the brief gives no manuscript apparatus to test this further.

Sources. Barnes and JFB give only cross references for this unit; Poole's entries for vv. 44 and 45 point to an unrelated passage (“Mark 1:16”), apparently a transmission error, so Poole is cited only from v. 43. Henry's comment covers 6:37 to 49 as a whole. The prickly pear in Cambridge and the Pulpit Commentary is a later introduction to the region (see note on v. 44). Ellicott's “Sinai” for the burning bush follows the common identification of Horeb with Sinai.

Synthesis. Threads to Jeremiah 17 and the christological readings citing John 15, Ezekiel 36, Luke 4:22 and 1 Peter 2:22 are ⚙ connections made by this tool, offered to be tested. Lexeme frequencies are the Verifier's NT counts.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)