Luke 6:45

Greek (Tischendorf 8th ed.)

English Translation

The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings out that which is good, and the evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings out that which is evil, for out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

1 first appearance in the Greek New Testament

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προφέρει

prophérō

G4393

“to bring forth”

Verb, Present, Active, Indicative, 3rd person, Singular

Appears 2× in the Greek New Testament
First appears here

Full Thayer's Definition

Origin: from G4253 and G5342

TDNT: None

1. to bring forth

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

29: words
14: distinct lemmas
Gospels: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is προφέρει to bring forth G4393 — appearing just 2 times in the whole Greek New Testament.

First appearance in Scripture

This word makes its first canonical appearance in the Greek New Testament here:

προφέρει to bring forth G4393

Repetition

Words recur within this verse:

ἀγαθὸς good G18 ×3
πονηρὸς evil G4190 ×3
καρδίας heart G2588 ×2
προφέρει to bring forth G4393 ×2
ὁ the G3588 ×8
ἐκ from G1537 ×3

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Luke 6:45 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it is the wellspring of life.
Matthew 12:34–37 You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for building up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear.
John 7:38 He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water."
Psalms 37:30–31 The mouth of the righteous talks of wisdom. His tongue speaks justice.
Psalms 59:12 For the sin of their mouth, and the words of their lips, Let them be caught in their pride, For the curses and lies which they utter.
Psalms 52:2–4 Your tongue plots destruction, Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.

Colossians 4:6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
Romans 3:13–14 "Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have used deceit." "The poison of vipers is under their lips;"
Hebrews 8:10 "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days," says the Lord; "I will put my laws into their mind, I will also write them on their heart. I will be to them a God, And they will be to me a people.
Proverbs 10:20–21 The tongue of the righteous is like choice silver. The heart of the wicked is of little worth.
Proverbs 12:18 There is one who speaks rashly like the piercing of a sword, But the tongue of the wise heals.
Psalms 12:2–4 Everyone lies to his neighbor. They speak with flattering lips, and with a double heart.
James 3:5–8 So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest!
Psalms 41:6–7 If he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood. His heart gathers iniquity to itself. When he goes abroad, he tells it.

Psalms 40:8–10 I delight to do your will, my God. Yes, your law is within my heart."
Acts 8:19–23 saying, "Give me also this power, that whoever I lay my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit."
Psalms 64:3–8 Who sharpen their tongue like a sword, And aim their arrows, deadly words,
Ephesians 5:19 speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; singing, and singing praises in your heart to the Lord;
Jeremiah 9:2–5 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.
Ephesians 5:3–4 But sexual immorality, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not even be mentioned among you, as becomes saints;
Psalms 71:15–18 My mouth will tell about your righteousness, And of your salvation all day, Though I don't know its full measure.
Proverbs 15:23 Joy comes to a man with the reply of his mouth. How good is a word at the right time!

2 Corinthians 4:6–7 seeing it is God who said, "Light will shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Psalms 59:7 Behold, they spew with their mouth. Swords are in their lips, "For," they say, "who hears us?"
Psalms 140:5 The proud have hidden a snare for me, They have spread the cords of a net by the path. They have set traps for me. Selah.
Proverbs 22:17–18 Turn your ear, and listen to the words of the wise. Apply your heart to my teaching.
Acts 5:3 But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
Jude 1:15 to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him."
Ephesians 3:8 To me, the very least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Where the printed editions differ

1 variant

Places in this verse where the major printed Greek editions disagree on the wording in a way that affects the translation — a comparison of editions, not a manuscript-by-manuscript collation. The editions are the modern critical texts (Nestlé-Aland 28/27, SBL, Westcott-Hort, Tregelles, Tyndale House) and the traditional texts behind the KJV (the Textus Receptus and the Byzantine/Majority text). It is not a claim about which reading is original.

Extra text

θησαυροῦ τῆς καρδίας αὑτοῦ

“treasure the heart his own”

In TRByz Not in NA28NA27TynSBLWHTreg

θησαυροῦ τῆς καρδίας αὑτοῦ (thēsaurou tēs kardias hautou) 'treasure the heart his own' is only in traditional manuscripts (TR+Byz)

Textual data: Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament (STEPBible TAGNT) · CC BY 4.0.

Commentary

Notes on Luke 6:45 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Commentary source

The Biblical Illustrator

Joseph S. Exell

Luk_6:45

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart

Religion seated in the heart

1.

Christ referred true religion to the heart as the seat of its vitality.

2. Nor is it in essence alone that religion is thus intensely spiritual and inward; religious acts, to have reality and value, must proceed from the heart, and fairly represent its spiritual frames.

3. What, then, is this good treasure of the heart? True religion is an inward principle of holy living, through consecration to a holy God. (J. P.Thompson.)

Prepared heart treasures

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh; and our best abundance of the heart must be slowly and in quietness prepared. The cattle, when they rest, are yet working to prepare from the grass that sweetest and most wholesome of beverages--milk. So must we prepare the abundance of the heart. If the milk of our word is to flow from us nourishingly, we must turn the common things of daily life--the grass--by slow and quiet processes, into sweet wisdom. In retired, meditative hours the digesting and secreting powers of the spirit act; and thus ourselves are nourished, and we store nourishment for others. (T. T. Lynch.)

Words reveal hearts

Our words are the commentaries on our wills; for when we speak we make, as it were, a dissection of our own hearts, and read an anatomy-lecture upon ourselves. Our wanton talk discovers a stew in our heart; when our words are swords, our hearts are a slaughter-house; when we bear false witness, that is the mint; when we worship Mammon, that is the temple. The heart is the shop and workhouse of all evil Pro_4:23-24; Mat_15:19). (A. Farindon.)

The rising of the sun is known by the shining beams; the fire is known by its burning; the life of the body is known by its moving: even so certainly is the presence of Gods Spirit known by the shining light of a holy conversation; even so the purging fire of grace is known by the burning zeal against sin, and a fervent desire to keep Gods commandments; even so, certainly, the life and liveliness of faith is known by the good motives of the heart, by the bestirring of all the powers, both of the soul and body, to de whatsoever God wills us to be doing, as soon as we once know He would have us do it. He that hath this evidence hath a bulwark against despair, and may dare the devil to his face; he that bath this hath the broad seal of eternal life, and such a man shall live for ever (Act_9:6; 1Jn_2:3). (J. Mede.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

6:45 What people take in and treasure determines what will emerge in their lives.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Bengel's Gnomon

Johann Albrecht Bengel

Luk 6:45. Θησαυροῦ, treasure, treasury) So it is here called: presently after it is called περίσσευμα, the abundance. [The interior of the human heart is spacious, capable of containing in no moderate degree good or else evil. Both break forth from it in words and deeds,—V. g.]

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Meyer's Critical & Exegetical Commentary

Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer

Luk_6:45. The application. Comp. Mat_12:35.

προφέρει κ.τ.λ. refers here also to spoken words. See ἐκ γὰρ κ.τ.λ.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Expositor's Greek Testament

ed. W. Robertson Nicoll

Luk 6:45 . θησαυροῦ τῆς καρδίας : either, the treasure which is in the heart, or the treasure which the heart is (Hahn). In either case the sense is: as is the heart, so is the utterance.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 45. A good man] See Clarke on Mt 12:35.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(45) A good man out of the good treasure.—See Note on Mat_12:35. There the words are spoken in immediate connection with the judgment which the Pharisees had passed on our Lord as casting out devils by Beelzebub, and follow on a reproduction of the similitude of the tree and its fruit. The sequence of thought in that passage helps us to trace a like sequence here. Out of the “good treasure of his heart” the good man would bring forth, not harsh or hasty judgment, but kindness, gentleness, compassion; out of the “evil treasure” the man who was evil, the hypocrite who judged others by himself, would bring forth bitterness, and harsh surmises, and uncharitable condemnation.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

45. of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh] “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things?” Mat_12:34; “the vile person will speak villany,’ Isa_32:6.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And why call ye me Lord, Lord,.... Or, "my Lord, my Lord", as the Syriac version renders it; acknowledging, in words, his government over them; claiming an interest in him, and making use of his name and authority:

and do not the things which I say; or "command"; and therefore such words in their mouths would be of no use to them, since they neither did his Father's will, which he taught them, nor observed his commands and ordinances which he enjoined them; and therefore should not enter into the kingdom of heaven, nor be owned by him another day, but should be bid to depart from him; See Gill on Mat 7:21. See Gill on Mat 7:22. See Gill on Mat 7:23.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

Ver. 45. See Mat 12:33-35.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

45. See Mat_12:35.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

General Information:

Jesus compares the thoughts of a person to his good or evil treasure. When a good person has good thoughts, he engages in good actions. When an evil person thinks evil thoughts, he engages in evil actions. (See: Metaphor)

The good man

The word "good" here means righteous or moral.

good man

The word "man" here refers to a person, male or female. AT: "good person" (See: When Masculine Words Include Women)

the good treasure of his heart

Here the good thoughts of a person are spoken of as if they are treasures stored in the heart of that person, and "his heart" is a metonym for the person's inner being. AT: "the good things he keeps deep inside himself" or "the good things he values very intensely" (See: Metaphor and Metonymy)

produces what is good

Producing what is good is a metaphor for doing what is good. AT: "does what is good" (See: Metaphor)

the evil treasure of his heart

Here the evil thoughts of a person are spoken of as if they are evil things stored in the heart of that person, and "his heart" is a metonym the person's inner being. AT: "the evil things he keeps deep inside himself" or "the evil things he values very intensely" (See: Metaphor) (See: Metonymy)

out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks

Here "heart" represents the person's mind or inner being. The phrase "his mouth" represents the person as a whole. AT: "what he thinks in his heart affects what he says with his mouth" or "a person will speak aloud what truly values inside of himself" (See: Metonymy and Synecdoche)

translationWords

good

heart

evil

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges

45. ἐκ γὰρ περισσεύματος καρδίας λαλεῖ τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ. “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things?” Mat 12:34; “the vile person will speak villany,” Isa 32:6.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Alford’s Greek Testament

Henry Alford

45.] Again the closest connexion of sense and argument; nor is this verse (De Wette) put here because of the similarity of the preceding verses to Mat 12:33 reminding the compiler of ver. 35 there. Do these expositors suppose that our Lord only once spoke each of these central sayings, and with only one reference?

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

International Critical Commentary

45. This forms a link with the next section. When men are natural, heart and mouth act in concert. But otherwise the mouth sometimes professes what the heart does not feel.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament

Marvin R. Vincent

Evil. See on Luk 3:19.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Luke, in the Gospels, opens this verse with 29 words (14 distinct Greek lemmas). Its most distinctive word is prophérō (“to bring forth”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “to bring forth” (prophérō) contribute to the verse as a whole?
The word “to bring forth” first appears here in Scripture. What is being introduced at this debut?
Proverbs 4:23 shares this passage’s theme. How do the two illuminate each other?
“good” occurs 3× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
Reading how The Biblical Illustrator and Tyndale Open Study Notes read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

1 word makes its first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
These translations choose different wording for 7 words in this verse.
“good” occurs 3× in this single verse.
14 distinct Greek lemmas span 29 words in this verse.