Section 7:15–23

Jesus warned his followers about false prophets

In this section, Jesus taught the difference between true and false prophets. In this context, the words “false prophets” probably refers to anyone who teaches something that goes against the teachings of Jesus. Such people try to get true believers to follow their wrong or mistaken teachings.

True believers live righteously, which is like a tree that bears good fruit. Others live sinfully, which is like a tree that bears bad fruit. Some people teach and falsely claim that they belong to Jesus. But their “fruit” (actions) will show to whom they truly belong.

Here are some other possible headings for this section:

Be on your guard against false prophets
-or-
People know you by your actions
-or-
A tree is known by its fruit

Paragraph 7:15–20

7:15a

Beware of: This phrase is a warning. Jesus warned his followers to be on guard against false prophets.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

Be on your guard against (Good News Translation)
-or-
Watch out for (New International Version)
-or-
Be careful of (New Century Version)

false prophets: A false prophet is a person who claims to speak messages from God, but he did not really receive his messages from God. Such people are not real prophets.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

deceitful/lying prophets
-or-
false religious teachers (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
those who say they are prophets ⌊of God⌋ but/and whose teachings are lies
-or-
those who pretend to be spokesmen for God

In this context, the word prophets probably refers to all religious teachers. In some languages this phrase would refer to only those who call themselves prophets. If that is true in your language, you may want to use a more general word. For example:

false religious teachers (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

See how you translated prophets in 4:14 and 5:12.

7:15b

They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves: The phrases sheep’s clothing and ravenous wolves are metaphors.

Sheep are tame animals. The sheep represent things that are gentle and harmless.

The phrase sheep’s clothing refers to a skin from a sheep. It includes the hair/wool.

The word wolves refers to a kind of large, fierce, wild dog. The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as ravenous means “eager to attack and having a great desire to eat or take things from others.” The wolves represent danger.

In this metaphor, the wolves wear the skins of sheep in order to look like sheep. They do this to deceive other animals so that they can get near them and destroy them. In the same way, false prophets approach true believers and pretend to be one of them, but their teaching is dangerous.

Here are some other ways to translate these metaphors:

• Keep the metaphors and explain the meaning in a footnote. Here is a sample footnote:

Wolves wearing the skins of sheep represents false prophets who pretend to be true believers. Just as wolves wearing sheep skins are deceitful and still dangerous, false prophets are deceitful. Their teachings are dangerous.

• Translate the metaphors as similes and explain the meaning in the text. For example:

who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
They come to you looking gentle like sheep, but they are really dangerous like wolves. (New Century Version)
-or-
They come to you ⌊pretending to be gentle, but they are really dangerous. It is as if they were⌋ fierce wolves wearing sheep skins.

wolves: Those animals, wolves, only live in certain parts of the world. If you live in an area where there are no wolves, you can substitute a wild animal that destroys other animals. For example:

wild dogs

-or-

lions/hyenas

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