So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree but I’ve never found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’
Every tree that doesn’t bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
The ax is already poised at the root of the trees, and all the trees that don’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
If you don’t remain in me, you’ll be like a branch that breaks off and dries up. Branches like that are picked up, thrown into the fire, and burned.
He cuts off any of my branches that don’t bear fruit, and he trims every branch that does bear fruit so that it will bear even more fruit.
“ ‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year. I’ll dig around it and fertilize it.