12:33 “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad 6 and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is known by its fruit. 12:34 Offspring of vipers! How are you able to say anything good, since you are evil? For the mouth speaks from what fills the heart. 12:35 The good person 7 brings good things out of his 8 good treasury, 9 and the evil person brings evil things out of his evil treasury. 12:36 I 10 tell you that on the day of judgment, people will give an account for every worthless word they speak.
1 sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.
2 tn Grk “except by Beelzebul.”
sn Beelzebul is another name for Satan. So some people recognized Jesus’ work as supernatural, but called it diabolical.
3 tn Or “prince.”
4 tn Grk “it will be forgiven him.”
5 tn Grk “it will not be forgiven him.”
sn Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. This passage has troubled many people, who have wondered whether or not they have committed this sin. Three things must be kept in mind: (1) the nature of the sin is to ascribe what is the obvious work of the Holy Spirit (e.g., releasing people from Satan’s power) to Satan himself; (2) it is not simply a momentary doubt or sinful attitude, but is indeed a settled condition which opposes the Spirit’s work, as typified by the religious leaders who opposed Jesus; and (3) a person who is concerned about it has probably never committed this sin, for those who commit it here (i.e., the religious leaders) are not in the least concerned about Jesus’ warning.
6 tn Grk “rotten.” The word σαπρός, modifying both “tree” and “fruit,” can also mean “diseased” (L&N 65.28).
7 tn The Greek text reads here ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpos). The term is generic referring to any person.
8 tn Grk “the”; the Greek article has been translated here and in the following clause (“his evil treasury”) as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).
9 sn The treasury here is a metaphorical reference to a person’s heart (cf. BDAG 456 s.v. θησαυρός 1.b and the parallel passage in Luke 6:45).
10 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.