Matthew 7:18 - Plain English Version

¹⁸ A good tree can’t make bad fruit. A bad tree can’t make good fruit.

More versions

King James Version (Oxford) 1769

¹⁸ A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

Amplified Bible - Classic Edition

¹⁸ A good (healthy) tree cannot bear bad (worthless) fruit, nor can a bad (diseased) tree bear excellent fruit [worthy of admiration].

American Standard Version (1901)

¹⁸ A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

Common English Bible

¹⁸ A good tree can’t produce bad fruit. And a rotten tree can’t produce good fruit.

Catholic Public Domain Version

¹⁸ A good tree is not able to produce evil fruit, and an evil tree is not able to produce good fruit.

Matthew 7:18 Cross References

Matthew 7:17

Good fruit grows on a good tree. Rubbish fruit grows on a rubbish tree.

Matthew 7:19

If a farmer has a tree that only makes rubbish fruit, he will cut down that tree and burn it in a fire.

Luke 6:43

Jesus was talking to his followers, and he told them a picture story. He said, “Think about different sorts of trees that give us fruit to eat. Good trees don’t give us rubbish fruit. And rubbish trees don’t give us good fruit.

Galatians 5:17

You see, it is like this. We all have a bad part in us that makes us want to do bad things, to make us feel good. And we also have God’s spirit in us, and he makes us want to do good things. Those 2 are both in you, and they both want to control you, so they are fighting each other inside you all the time. Whenever you listen to God’s spirit and try to do good things, that bad part in you tries to stop you, so you don’t do what you really want to do.