Bible Strands
Matthew 3:8
Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — John the Baptist, mid-rebuke to Pharisees and Sadducees who have come to be baptized (v. 7), issues this demand as the hinge between his insult ("brood of vipers") and his dismantling of their Abraham-claim (v. 9).
The words — ἄξιον (axion), "worthy," is the load-bearing adjective: the fruit must be proportionate to the repentance claimed, not merely present.
The thread — Luke 3:8 preserves the identical demand in John's ministry; Acts 26:20 shows Paul later preaching the same repentance to both Jews and Gentiles.
Why it lands — Repentance is not a feeling to be reported but a claim to be evidenced; the verse turns inward introspection outward into observable conduct.
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
Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
Cross-references
- Luke 3:8 Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
- Acts 26:20 First to those in Damascus and Jerusalem, then to everyone in the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I declared that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds worthy of their repentance.
- 2 Peter 1:4 Through these He has given us His precious and magnificent promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, now that you have escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
- Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
- Ephesians 5:9 for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.
- Philippians 1:11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
- Isaiah 1:16 Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil!
- Jeremiah 36:3 Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about all the calamity I plan to bring upon them, each of them will turn from his wicked way. Then I will forgive their iniquity and their sin.”
- Jeremiah 26:13 So now, correct your ways and deeds, and obey the voice of the LORD your God, so that He might relent of the disaster He has pronounced against you.
- Matthew 21:28 But what do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first one and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’