Matthew 7:24
“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:”
King James Version (KJV)
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This verse opens the parable of the two builders, the climactic illustration that closes the Sermon on the Mount with a call to obedient action.
What Does Matthew 7:24 Mean?
Jesus says the wise person is the one who both hears His words and acts on them, like a builder who founds his house on rock. This begins the closing parable of the Sermon on the Mount, where two builders face the same storms but with opposite results. The decisive difference is not hearing alone -- both builders presumably hear -- but doing. The wise man translates Jesus' teaching into action, and that obedience becomes the bedrock beneath his life. The word "therefore" gathers up the entire sermon: all that Jesus has taught is meant not merely to be admired but to be lived. A house on rock can withstand wind and flood because its foundation is unshakeable; so a life grounded in obedience to Christ endures the storms that test everyone. The parable is gently confrontational, asking what we are building on. Knowledge of Jesus' words is no substitute for following them. To hear and do is to build wisely, securing a life that will stand when pressures come that no shallow foundation could survive.
In the Original Language
The Greek phronimos means prudent or sensible, describing practical wisdom, while petra denotes solid bedrock, a firm foundation.
Cross References
“He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.”
- Luke 6:48
“But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”
- James 1:25
“For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
- 1 Corinthians 3:11
Application
Put Jesus' teaching into practice, not just into memory, so that your life rests on a foundation that storms cannot shake.