Rotten
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The Greek adjective sapros describes something rotten, spoiled, bad, or unfit for its intended use. Jesus applies it to trees and fruit when teaching that fruit discloses the character of a source, and to unwanted fish sorted from a catch in a kingdom parable.
Reader summary
Full entry for σαπρός (G4550) · Open the biblical lexicon
The Greek adjective sapros describes something rotten, spoiled, bad, or unfit for its intended use. Jesus applies it to trees and fruit when teaching that fruit discloses the character of a source, and to unwanted fish sorted from a catch in a kingdom parable.
The BSB source-word alignment has 8 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include bad (3), [a] bad (1), [and a] bad (1), [will be] bad (1), a bad (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 7:17. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (5), Luke (2), Ephesians (1).
The Greek adjective sapros describes something rotten, spoiled, bad, or unfit for its intended use. Jesus applies it to trees and fruit when teaching that fruit discloses the character of a source, and to unwanted fish sorted from a catch in a kingdom parable. Paul applies it to speech that fails to build a person in need or give grace to hearers. The adjective evaluates fruit, fish, or words within specific comparisons; it is not a license to call a human body, disabled person, ethnic group, abuse survivor, or disliked opponent rotten.
Responsible teaching identifies the noun modified, the contrast used, and the outcome the passage names. It examines patterns of conduct and the effect of speech without claiming flawless people or instantaneous diagnosis. It must not turn metaphor into dehumanization, confuse decay with moral guilt, weaponize final-judgment imagery, or excuse humiliation as truth-telling.
Sapros evaluates trees by fruit, distinguishes unwanted fish within a parable, and rejects speech that harms rather than builds. Concrete decay supplies an image whose moral force remains attached to the passage's stated object and result.
Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
Within Jesus' warning about false prophets, bad trees and bad fruit picture a source revealed by its results.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.
The paired proverb stresses consistency between a tree's condition and the kind of fruit it bears.
Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is known by its fruit.
Jesus again links a tree's known character with its fruit during a dispute about speech and allegiance.
No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.
Luke places the tree-and-fruit contrast within teaching about speech, judgment, teachers, and the heart's store.
When it was full, the men pulled it ashore. Then they sat down and sorted the good fish into containers, but threw the bad away.
The net parable pictures fishermen sorting desirable and bad fish after the full catch reaches shore.
Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen.
Paul forbids unwholesome speech and supplies the positive standard of building needful people and giving grace.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. Moral corruption or worthlessness, applied to speech and character as decay from intended good.
Moral corruption or worthlessness, applied to speech and character as decay from intended good.
[in Sm.: Lev.27:14, 33 * ;] rotten, corrupt, bad, worthless: of trees and fruit (opposite to ἀγαθός, καλός), Mat.7:17-18 12:33 Luk.6:43; of fish, Mat.13:48. Metaphorical, in moral sense: λόγος σ., Eph.4:29. "In Hellenistic . . . it became a synonym for αἰσχρός or κακός," MM, xxii.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
8 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
rotten, useless, corrupt
Read verserotten, useless, corrupt
Read verserotten, useless, corrupt
Read verserotten, useless, corrupt
Read verserotten, useless, corrupt
Read verserotten, useless, corrupt
Read verserotten, useless, corrupt
Read verserotten, useless, corrupt
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 5 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 8 lexical occurrence verses.
σαπρός is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Sapros makes fitness and outcome visible through concrete comparisons. In Matthew 7, the tree-and-fruit saying belongs to a warning about false prophets, so sustained results help expose a source hidden behind an outward appearance. The image does not authorize instant certainty about every person or reduce redemption to an immutable human category. Matthew 12 and Luke 6 connect fruit with what speech reveals from the heart, keeping attention on repeated expression and moral source.
Matthew 13 uses good and bad fish within a parable whose sorting points to final judgment; disciples are not appointed to treat neighbors as refuse or carry out final exclusion by force. Ephesians gives the most direct congregational application: reject speech that is spoiled for its purpose and instead speak what builds the person who has a real need and gives grace to listeners.
Faithful teaching evaluates conduct and communication with patience, evidence, and hope for repentance. It refuses to project material decay onto bodies or identities, to call whole groups rotten, or to make verbal cruelty sound courageous. The gospel's aim is truthful fruit and restorative speech, not contempt.
Eph.4.29
Sapros is a Greek adjective for decayed, spoiled, bad, or unusable material. Its attributive relationship matters: the selected texts modify tree, fruit, fish, or speech, allowing a concrete quality judgment to serve moral comparison without becoming a noun for human identity.
The Hebrew Scriptures compare righteous life and corrupt leadership with fruitful or ruined trees and repeatedly contrast healing speech with words that wound. The New Testament develops those images around teachers, hearts, judgment, and congregational speech while preserving God's authority over final judgment.