The Wise and Foolish Builders

The words

Matthew 7:24–29 (opens a new tab)

1. Authority

   Matthew closes the sermon by contrasting Jesus’s authority with the scribes; the NET calls them “experts in the law,” while the preceding verse describes the crowd’s astonishment.

   Matthew 7:28–29 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Matthew 7:24-29 (opens a new tab)

2. Beat

   Matthew uses beat for the storm striking both houses; Luke’s KJV describes the stream beating vehemently against the houses, with different outcomes for the two foundations.

   Matthew 7:25; Matthew 7:27 (opens a new tab) · Luke 6:48–49 (opens a new tab)

3. Doctrine

   Teaching; what is taught.

   Matthew’s KJV uses doctrine for the teaching that astonishes the people after Jesus ends these sayings; the NET uses teaching, before describing his authority in the next verse.

   Matthew 7:28–29 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Matthew 7:24-29 (opens a new tab)

4. Doeth

   Does; puts the sayings into practice.

   Matthew pairs hearing and doing Jesus’s sayings in the comparison with the wise builder; the foolish builder hears the same sayings but does not do them.

   Matthew 7:24; Matthew 7:26 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Matthew 7:24-29 (opens a new tab)

5. Floods

   Matthew lists floods with rain and winds in the testing of both houses; Luke describes a flood arising and the stream striking the houses in his account.

   Matthew 7:25; Matthew 7:27 (opens a new tab) · Luke 6:48–49 (opens a new tab)

6. Foolish Man

   Matthew compares the hearer who does not do Jesus’s sayings with a foolish builder on sand; the storm comes, the house falls, and its fall is described as great.

   Matthew 7:26–27 (opens a new tab)

7. Founded

   Established on a foundation.

   Matthew’s KJV explains the house’s survival as “founded upon a rock”; Luke’s KJV uses the same explanation, while NET Luke reads “well built” and notes the manuscript difference.

   Matthew 7:25 (opens a new tab) · Luke 6:48 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 6:46-49 (opens a new tab)

8. Heareth

   Hears; the older verb form.

   Matthew uses heareth for both responses to Jesus’s sayings: the wise hearer also does them, while the foolish hearer does not; hearing itself is shared by both comparisons.

   Matthew 7:24; Matthew 7:26 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Matthew 7:24-29 (opens a new tab)

9. Liken

   Compare; show what something is like.

   Matthew gives Jesus’s comparison in the words “I will liken him unto a wise man,” referring to someone who hears his sayings and does them before the storm arrives.

   Matthew 7:24–25 (opens a new tab)

10. Rain

    Matthew repeats “the rain descended” for both houses, alongside floods and winds; the house on rock does not fall, while the house on sand does.

    Matthew 7:25–27 (opens a new tab)

11. Rock

    Matthew places the wise builder’s house on rock; Luke describes digging deep and laying a foundation on rock before the flood and the stream’s force test the house.

    Matthew 7:24–25 (opens a new tab) · Luke 6:48 (opens a new tab)

12. Sand

    Matthew locates the foolish builder’s house on sand; Luke’s corresponding comparison describes building on the earth without a foundation, before the stream strikes and the house falls.

    Matthew 7:26–27 (opens a new tab) · Luke 6:49 (opens a new tab)

13. Sayings

    Matthew repeats Jesus’s phrase “these sayings of mine” for both hearers; after the house comparisons, the narrator marks the end of the teaching and the people’s astonishment.

    Did you know?

    Matthew 13:53 also marks the end of teaching: “when Jesus had finished these parables,” he leaves that place, echoing the transition after the sayings here.

    Matthew 7:24; Matthew 7:26; Matthew 7:28 (opens a new tab) · Matthew 13:53 (opens a new tab)

14. Winds

    Matthew describes winds blowing and beating against both houses, together with rain and floods; the different endings follow the earlier contrast between rock and sand.

    Matthew 7:24–27 (opens a new tab)

15. Wise Man

    Matthew compares hearing and doing Jesus’s sayings with a wise builder whose house stands on rock; Luke similarly pairs hearing and doing before describing the deeply founded house.

    Matthew 7:24–25 (opens a new tab) · Luke 6:47–48 (opens a new tab)