34aBrood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? bFor out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
35A good man out of the good treasure1of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.
36But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.
37For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
The Scribes and Pharisees Ask for a Sign
38aThen some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”
39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and aadulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
Every idle word (pan rhma argon). An ineffective, useless word (a privative and ergon). A word that does no good and so is pernicious like pernicious anaemia. It is a solemn thought. Jesus who knows our very thoughts (Matthew 12:25) insists that our words reveal our thoughts and form a just basis for the interpretation of character (Matthew 12:37). Here we have judgment by words as in Matthew 25:31-46 where Jesus presents judgment by deeds. Both are real tests of actual character. Homer spoke of "winged words" (pteroenta epea). And by the radio our words can be heard all round the earth. Who knows where they stop?
Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing Matthew 12:36:
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