Bible Strands
Matthew 11:7
As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the wind?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus addresses the crowds at the moment John’s disciples depart the wilderness. The words — πορευομένων (poreuomenōn) = were going away, ἤρξατο (ērxato) = began. The thread — The wind imagery parallels James 1:6 regarding instability, while the discussion of John’s role echoes John 5:35. Why it lands — The text demands readers examine whether their attention to spiritual figures is rooted in steady conviction or fleeting cultural trends.
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
And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?
Cross-references
- James 1:6 But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
- Luke 8:18 Pay attention, therefore, to how you listen. Whoever has will be given more, but whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away from him.”
- John 5:35 John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you were willing for a season to bask in his light.
- Genesis 49:4 Uncontrolled as the waters, you will no longer excel, because you went up to your father’s bed, onto my couch, and defiled it.
- Mark 1:3 “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.’”
- Luke 7:24 After John’s messengers had left, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the wind?
- Ephesians 4:14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.
- Matthew 3:1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea
- Matthew 3:5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region around the Jordan.
- Matthew 21:25 What was the source of John’s baptism? Was it from heaven or from men?” They deliberated among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will ask, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’