Matthew 7:26

Matthew 7:26 is the twenty-sixth verse of the seventh chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament and is part of the Sermon on the Mount. This verse continues the Parable of the Wise and the Foolish Builders.

In the original Greek according to Westcott-Hort this verse is:

και πας ο ακουων μου τους λογους τουτους και μη ποιων αυτους ομοιωθησεται

ανδρι μωρω οστις ωκοδομησεν αυτου την οικιαν επι την αμμον

In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:

And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not,

shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

The World English Bible translates the passage as:

Everyone who hears these words of mine, and doesn’t do them

will be like a foolish man, who built his house on the sand.

In the previous verses Jesus tells the story of a wise man who builds his house on rock and sees it survive a storm. This verse compares him to a foolish one who builds on sand and has his home washed away. It makes explicit that the story is a metaphor for the danger to those who do not follow the teachings just given in the Sermon on the Mount.

This verse modifies the version found in Luke 6:49 it expands the verse so that its structure parallels 24. It also makes clear that hearing the words are not enough, but rewards only come to those who act upon them as well. This is a common theme in Matthew also found at Matthew 7:13 and 7:21.^[1] In Luke the bad house is one lacking a foundation. In Matthew it is a house built on sand, a more tangible metaphor.^[2] This verse is the source of the common metaphor of something being built on sand being temporary and vulnerable.

The change from how the house is built to where it is built also changes the metaphor. In John Chrysostom's commentary he notes that building a house on sand takes just as much work as building one on stone, both the wicked and the good must labour equally through life but only the good see any reward from it.^[3]

References