Bible Strands
Matthew 15:19
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jesus is answering the Pharisees' complaint about his disciples' unwashed hands, redirecting the dispute from ritual cleanliness to the source of defilement.
The words — διαλογισμοί (dialogismoi) is not vague "thoughts" but deliberate, calculated reasoning; the heart is presented not as a passive organ but as an active engine of plotting.
The thread — Mark 7:21 gives the parallel list; Jeremiah 17:9 supplies the diagnosis ("deceitful above all things"); Galatians 5:19 catalogs the same fruit in a different context.
Why it lands — The list is concrete and escalating, not abstract, and it forecloses the move of blaming circumstance or other people for moral failure.
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
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
Cross-references
- Mark 7:21 For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
- Galatians 5:19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;
- Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
- Titus 3:2 to malign no one, and to be peaceable and gentle, showing full consideration to everyone.
- James 1:13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone.
- Proverbs 4:23 Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow springs of life.
- Genesis 6:5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time.
- Jeremiah 4:14 Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts within you?
- Romans 3:10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one.
- Psalms 119:113 The double-minded I despise, but Your law I love.