The Lord's Word
Quotes about Vines and Vineyards,
Trees, Branches, and Fruit
Those who come he shall cause to take root in Jacob;
Israel shall blossom and bud,
and fill the face of the world with fruit.
(Isaiah 27:6)
“And he who reaps receives wages,
and gathers fruit for eternal life,
that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.”
(John 4:36)
“In that day,” says the Lord of hosts,
“Everyone will invite his neighbor
Under his vine and under his fig tree.”
(Zechariah 3:10)
“Either make the tree good and its fruit good,
or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad;
for a tree is known by its fruit.”
(Matthew 12:33)
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
And whose hope is the Lord.
For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,
Which spreads out its roots by the river,
And will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green,
And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
Nor will cease from yielding fruit….
(Jeremiah 17:7-9; see also Psalm 1:1-3)
I am like a green cypress tree;
Your fruit is found in Me.
(Hosea 14:8)
Your people shall all be righteous;
They shall inherit the land forever,
The branch of My planting, the work of My hands,
That I may be glorified.
(Isaiah 60:21)
But you, O mountains of Israel,
you shall shoot forth your branches
and yield your fruit to My people Israel,
for they are about to come.
(Ezekiel 36:8)
When you reap your harvest in your field,
and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it;
it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow,
that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
When you beat your olive trees,
you shall not go over the boughs again;
it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.
When you gather the grapes of your vineyard,
you shall not glean it afterward;
it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.
(Deuteronomy 24:19-22)
Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well;
His branches run over the wall.
(Genesis 49:22)
“For a good tree does not bear bad fruit,
nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.
For every tree is known by its own fruit.
For men do not gather figs from thorns,
nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good;
and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil.
For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
(Luke 6:43-45)
“I will be like the dew to Israel;
He shall grow like the lily,
And lengthen his roots like Lebanon.
His branches shall spread;
His beauty shall be like an olive tree,
And his fragrance like Lebanon.
Those who dwell under his shadow shall return;
They shall be revived like grain,
And grow like the vine.
Their scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
(Hosea 14:5-7)
Since the “vine” signifies the spiritual church, and the primary thing
of the spiritual church is charity, in which the Lord is present, and by
means of which He conjoins Himself with a person, and Himself alone
works every good, therefore the Lord compares Himself to a vine….
(Arcana Coelestia 1069 :5).
A tree symbolizes a person. Its leaves and blossoms symbolize the
truths of faith. And its fruit symbolizes the good of love
(see Doctrine of Life 46).
A person can be likened to a tree. In its seed lies hidden as it were an
end in view, an intention and objective—to produce fruit. Here the
seed symbolizes the will in a person, which contains these three factors.
Next the seed is impelled by what it contains to sprout from the earth,
and clothe itself with branches, boughs and leaves, thus acquiring for
itself the means to its ends, the fruit. Here the tree symbolizes the
understanding in a person. Finally when its time has come and it is
ready to realize itself, it blossoms and produces fruit. Here the tree
symbolizes the person’s good deeds. It is obvious that these are
in essence the work of the seed, in form the work of the boughs and
leaves, and in performance the work of the wood of the tree
(True Christian Religion 374:3).
Leaves symbolize the truths with a person and fruits symbolize the
goods with him
(see Apocalypse Explained 109:5).
There is a correspondence of a person’s regeneration with all things
in the vegetable kingdom. Therefore in the Word a person is also
pictured by a tree, his truth by its seed and his good by its fruit.
That an evil tree may be born anew, as it were, and afterward bear
good fruit and good seed, is evident from grafting and budding, for
although the same sap ascends from the root through the trunk to the
graft or bud, it is then changed into good sap and makes the tree good.
It is the same in the church with those who are engrafted into the Lord
(True Christian Religion 584).
A person unreformed in spirit is like a panther or an owl and
may be compared to a bramble bush and a nettle. On the other hand,
a regenerate person is like a sheep or a dove and may be compared
to an olive tree and a vine
(Conjugial Love 526:2)
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