Matthew 7:8-18

8 For everyone who asks will receive, and anyone who seeks will find, and the door will be opened to those who knock.

9 Would any of you who are fathers give your son a stone when he asks for bread?

10 Or would you give him a snake when he asks for a fish?

11 As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

12 "Do for others what you want them to do for you: this is the meaning of the Law of Moses and of the teachings of the prophets. ¹

13 "Go in through the narrow gate, because the gate to hell is wide and the road that leads to it is easy, and there are many who travel it. ²

14 But the gate to life is narrow and the way that leads to it is hard, and there are few people who find it.

15 "Be on your guard against false prophets; they come to you looking like sheep on the outside, but on the inside they are really like wild wolves.

16 You will know them by what they do. Thorn bushes do not bear grapes, and briers do not bear figs. ³

17 A healthy tree bears good fruit, but a poor tree bears bad fruit.

18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a poor tree cannot bear good fruit.

Cross References

• 1. 7.12 +2Tobit 4.15; +1Luke 6.31.
• 2. +27.13, 14Ben Sira 15.17.
• 3. +27.16Ben Sira 27.6.