MAT 7:7 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=none Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

OET (OET-RV) “Make your requests, and they’ll be given to you. Keep looking, and you’ll find it. Knock on doors, and they’ll be opened.

Key: khaki:verbs, cyan:dative/indirect object.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

ULT Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

UST Keep asking God for the things you need, and he will give them to you. Keep seeking those things from God, and you will receive them. Ask God to make things possible for you, and he will act on your behalf.

BLB Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened unto you.

AICNT “Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you;

OEB Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.

WEBBE “Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you.

WMBB (Same as above)

NET “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you.

LSV Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you;

FBV Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.[fn]

7:7 In the original these are present imperatives, and could be translated “Keep on asking” etc.

TCNT “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.

T4T “Keep asking God for what you need. If you do that, he will give it to you. Confidently keep expecting God to give you the things that you need, and he will give them to you. It will be like [MET] looking for what you need and finding it. Keep on praying persistently to God. Then God will answer you. It will be like [MET] knocking on a door in order to enter a room. And the way will be opened {God will open the way} for you to get what you pray for.

LEB ¶ “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened for you.

BBE Make a request, and it will be answered; what you are searching for you will get; give the sign, and the door will be open to you:

Moff Ask and the gift will be yours,
⇔ seek and you will find,
⇔ knock and the door will open to you;

Wymth "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.

ASV Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

DRA Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you.

YLT 'Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you;

Drby Ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you.

RV Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
(Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye/you_all shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: )

SLT Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you.

Wbstr Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and the door shall be opened to you:

KJB-1769 ¶ Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
(¶ Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye/you_all shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: )

KJB-1611 ¶ Aske, and it shalbe giuen you: seeke, and ye shall finde: knocke, and it shalbe opened vnto you.
(¶ Aske, and it shall be given you: seek, and ye/you_all shall finde: knock, and it shall be opened unto you.)

Bshps Aske, and it shalbe geuen you: seke, and ye shall fynde: knocke, and it shalbe opened vnto you.
(Aske, and it shall be given you: seek, and ye/you_all shall fynde: knock, and it shall be opened unto you.)

Gnva Aske, and it shall be giuen you: seeke, and ye shall finde: knocke, and it shall be opened vnto you.
(Aske, and it shall be given you: seek, and ye/you_all shall finde: knock, and it shall be opened unto you. )

Cvdl Axe, and it shalbe geuen you: Seke, and ye shall fynde: knocke, and it shalbe opened vnto you.
(Axe, and it shall be given you: Seke, and ye/you_all shall fynde: knock, and it shall be opened unto you.)

TNT Axe and it shalbe geven you. Seke and ye shall fynd. knocke and it shalbe opened vnto you.
(Axe and it shall be given you. Seek and ye/you_all shall fynd. knock and it shall be opened unto you. )

Wycl Axe ye, and it schal be youun to you; seke ye, and ye schulen fynde; knocke ye, and it schal be openyd to you.
(Axe ye/you_all, and it shall be given to you; seek ye/you_all, and ye/you_all should fynde; knock ye/you_all, and it shall be opened to you.)

Luth Bittet, so wird euch gegeben; suchet, so werdet ihr finden; klopfet an, so wird euch aufgetan.
(Pleaset, so becomes you given; seeks, so become you(pl)/their/her find; klopfet an, so becomes you opened.)

ClVg Petite, et dabitur vobis: quærite, et invenietis: pulsate, et aperietur vobis.[fn]
(Petite, and will_be_given to_you(pl): seek, and will_findis: pulsate, and will_be_opened to_you(pl). )

7.7 Petite. His gradibus via, veritas, et vita legitime certantibus, præstatur: Christus est via qua ambulatur, veritas qua invenitur, ostium ad quod pulsatur, ut ad ipsum per ipsum ingrediamur. AUG. Operose quidem quod ista tria inter se differant exponendum putavi, sed longe melius, etc., usque ad non enim dixit petentibus, et quærentibus, et pulsantibus.

7.7 Petite. His gradibus way/road, the_truth, and life legitime certantibus, providesur: Christ/Messiah it_is way/road which he_walksur, the_truth which is_found, door to that pulsatur, as to him through him to_enteramur. AUG. Operose indeed that these_(ones) three between himself differant exponendum putavi, but far_away better, etc., until to not/no because he/she_said petentibus, and to_the_seekerbus, and pulsantibus.

UGNT αἰτεῖτε καὶ δοθήσεται ὑμῖν; ζητεῖτε καὶ εὑρήσετε; κρούετε καὶ ἀνοιγήσεται ὑμῖν.
(aiteite kai dothaʸsetai humin; zaʸteite kai heuraʸsete; krouete kai anoigaʸsetai humin.)

SBL-GNT Αἰτεῖτε, καὶ δοθήσεται ὑμῖν· ζητεῖτε, καὶ εὑρήσετε· κρούετε, καὶ ἀνοιγήσεται ὑμῖν.
(Aiteite, kai dothaʸsetai humin; zaʸteite, kai heuraʸsete; krouete, kai anoigaʸsetai humin.)

RP-GNT Αἰτεῖτε, καὶ δοθήσεται ὑμῖν· ζητεῖτε, καὶ εὑρήσετε· κρούετε, καὶ ἀνοιγήσεται ὑμῖν.
(Aiteite, kai dothaʸsetai humin; zaʸteite, kai heuraʸsete; krouete, kai anoigaʸsetai humin.)

TC-GNT Αἰτεῖτε, καὶ δοθήσεται ὑμῖν· ζητεῖτε, καὶ εὑρήσετε· κρούετε, καὶ ἀνοιγήσεται ὑμῖν.
(Aiteite, kai dothaʸsetai humin; zaʸteite, kai heuraʸsete; krouete, kai anoigaʸsetai humin. )

Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs (from our SR-GNT base).

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 5:1–7:29: Jesus preached a sermon on a mountain

For many years, English versions and Christians have commonly referred to Matthew 5–7 as “The Sermon on the Mount.” In some translations, it may be helpful to include a heading for chapters 5–7 that is on a level above the section heading for 5:1–12.

Here are some other possible headings for this section:

The Sermon on the Mountain

The sermon that Jesus preached on a mountain

Jesus taught people on the side of a mountain/hill

Paragraph 7:7–11

In this paragraph, Jesus told his disciples that they should pray earnestly to God for the things that they need, and God will give them these things. God will give good things to his followers just as a human father gives good things to his children.

Matthew 7:7–8 has almost the same words as Luke 11:9–10, and they mean the same thing.

7:7a–c

In 7:7, Jesus instructed his disciples to pray to God for the things that they need. He restated this in three ways using three verbs: “ask,” “seek,” and “knock.”

The three sayings in 7:7 are like proverbs. Proverbs are short without much explaining. You may want to add little or no implied information to these sayings, as long as the sayings are natural in your language.

7:7a

Ask, and it will be given to you;

¶ “Ask God, and it will be given to you^(plur).
¶ Jesus continued, “Ask God for what you^(plur) need, and he will give it to you.

This is the first way to say that we should pray for the things we need, and then God will give them to us.

Ask: In this context, the verb Ask refers to asking God for something when praying. In some languages a literal translation would refer to asking in general. It would not refer to praying. If that is true in your language, you may want to include some implied information. For example:

Ask God

Ask in your prayers

Ask God for whatever you need

Jesus was speaking to his disciples, so this verb is plural.

it will be given to you: This clause is passive.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

Use a passive verb. For example:
it will be given to you (NIV)
Use the active form of “give.” For example:
God will give to you (NCV)
Use another verb. For example:
you will receive (GNT)

7:7b

seek, and you will find;

Seek/Search for what you need, and you^(plur) will find it.
Search for your^(plur) needs from God, and you will get/receive them.

This is the second way to say that we should pray for the things we need, and then God will give them to us.

seek, and you will find: The verb seek means to “search” or “look” for something. This is a figure of speech. It compares “asking God for something” to “searching for it.” It also compares “God answering the prayer” to “the person finding/receiving” what he was searching for.

If the meaning of this figure of speech will not be clear in your language, you may need to supply some information. For example:

seek from God what you need, and you will find it

search for what you need, and he/God will provide it for you

you will find: The verb find indicates that you will get/receive something that you did not have. It does not imply that you had lost something and found it again.

Here are some other ways to translate this verb:

you will get/obtain it

you will receive it

God will give it to you

7:7c

knock, and the door will be opened to you.

Knock on the door, and it will be opened to you^(plur).
Tap on the door, and God will open it for you^(plur).

This is the third way to say that we should pray for the things we need, and then God will give them to us.

knock, and the door will be opened to you: This clause is also a figure of speech. It compares asking God for something to knocking on a door to indicate that the person inside should open it. The image of the door being opened means that God responds favorably to the person’s request.

In some languages it may be necessary to make explicit where a person should knock, and who would open it. For example:

knock on the door, and God will open it for you

To knock is a cultural gesture to announce that a person is at the door. In some cultures, people call out or clap to announce that they are there, then wait outside the door. If the custom of knocking on a door is not used or understood in your area, you may want to:

Explain the meaning of the gesture of knocking in the text. For example:
Knock/Tap on the door to ask God to open it, and he will open it for you
Use a gesture that has the right meaning in your area. For example:
Call/Clap at the door, and God will open it

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

αἰτεῖτε καὶ δοθήσεται ὑμῖν; ζητεῖτε καὶ εὑρήσετε

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Αἰτεῖτε καί δοθήσεται ὑμῖν ζητεῖτε καί εὑρήσετε κρούετε καί ἀνοιγήσεται ὑμῖν)

You may need to say what a person would be asking for and seeking. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use general expressions that refer to anything good that a person might want or need. Alternate translation: [ask for a good thing, and it will be given to you; seek a good thing, and you will find it]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive

δοθήσεται ὑμῖν

˱it˲_˓will_be_being˒_given ˱to˲_you_all

If your language does not use this passive form, you could express the idea in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. If you need to say who does the action, it is clear from the context that it is God. Alternate translation: [God will give it to you]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

κρούετε

˓be˒_knocking

To knock means to hit a door a few times to let a person inside the house know you are standing outside. You could translate this expression with the way people in your culture show that they have arrived at a house. Alternate translation: [call out] or [cough] or [clap]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

κρούετε καὶ ἀνοιγήσεται ὑμῖν

˓be˒_knocking (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Αἰτεῖτε καί δοθήσεται ὑμῖν ζητεῖτε καί εὑρήσετε κρούετε καί ἀνοιγήσεται ὑμῖν)

Here Jesus speaks of praying as if it were knocking on a door, and he speaks of God answering the prayer as if it were the door being opened. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a comparable figure of speech or state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [ask for permission, and permission will be given to you] or [pray, and God will answer your prayer]

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive

ἀνοιγήσεται ὑμῖν