12:35

This verse is a parable with a similar meaning to 12:34c. A good person will say good things and do good deeds because his mind is filled with good thoughts, feelings, and desires. But an evil person will say evil things and do evil deeds because his mind is filled with evil thoughts, feelings, and desires.

12:35a

The good man: This phrase refers to a man who is moral and upright. It refers to any good person. It does not refer to a specific person.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

A good person (Good News Translation)
-or-
A moral/upright man
-or-
Good people (Revised English Bible)

brings good things: This phrase refers to nonphysical things that figuratively “come out” of a person. These are the good words that he says and the good deeds that he does.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

do the good things (God’s Word)
-or-
they say good things (New Century Version)

Here are some other ways to translate this entire clause:

A good person says the good words that come from his good heart
-or-
Good people have good things in their hearts, and so they say good things (New Century Version)
-or-
Good people do the good things that are in them (God’s Word)

out of his good store of treasure: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as treasure can refer to “valuable things” or “the place where valuable things are stored.” In the context of this paragraph speaking of the heart (12:34b), it probably refers primarily to the place. So the treasure is the treasury/storehouse. This is a figure of speech that refers to the heart/insides.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

from the treasury of a good heart (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
out of their hearts (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
from his good heart/insides

The phrase “a good heart” refers to the upright/moral inner qualities of a person. It does not mean a physically healthy heart. In some languages, it may be more natural to speak of “the good things in a person’s heart.” For example:

have good things in their hearts (New Century Version)

12:35b

and the evil man brings evil things out of his evil store of treasure: This clause has the same grammatical structure as 12:35a. So you should translate it in the same way. For example:

An evil/bad person says the evil words that come from his evil heart
-or-
But evil people have evil in their hearts, so they say evil things. (New Century Version)

-or-

But evil people do the evil things that are in them. (God’s Word)

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