Bible Strands
Matthew 10:16
Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus speaks to the twelve he has just commissioned (Matt 10:1), immediately after warning that some towns will reject them (v. 15) and before detailing the persecution to come (v. 17).
The words — φρόνιμοι (phronimoi) carries the "shrewd" side: prudent, sensible, not cunning. ἀκέραιος (akeros) carries the "innocent" side: uncorrupted, without blemish.
The thread — Luke 10:3 repeats the lambs-among-wolves image for a different sending; Philippians 2:15 and 1 Corinthians 14:20 press the same dual demand—purity without naivety, maturity without malice.
Why it lands — It refuses the false choice between gullibility and compromise, demanding instead practical discernment held inside moral integrity.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Cross-references
- Philippians 2:15 so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world
- Luke 10:3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.
- 1 Corinthians 14:20 Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.
- Colossians 4:5 Act wisely toward outsiders, redeeming the time.
- Ephesians 5:15 Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
- Romans 16:18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
- Luke 21:15 For I will give you speech and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.
- Acts 20:29 I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.
- 2 Corinthians 11:3 I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.
- 2 Corinthians 11:14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.