Matthew 7:13 BSB — MannaFest

Matthew 7:13

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

Enter ye in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many are they that enter in thereby.

KJV

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

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Commentary

6 voices

Jerome

Catena Aurea by Aquinas (420)

Attend to the words, for they have an especial force, many walk in the broad way—few find the narrow way. For the broad way needs no search, and is not found, but presents itself readily; it is the way of all who go astray. Whereas the narrow way neither do all find, nor when they have found, do they straightway walk therein. Many, after they have found the way of truth, caught by the pleasures of the world, desert midway.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

The strait gate - The holiness described in the foregoing chapters. And this is the narrow way. Wide is the gate, and many there are that go in through it - They need not seek for this; they come to it of course.

Anchor repaired 2026-08-10: was 7:12; content is Wesley on the strait gate, source marker 13, note spans vv. 13-14 (no separate note 14).

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

Christ deals faithfully with us, and tells us, First, That the gate is strait. Conversion and regeneration are the gate, by which we enter into this way, in which we begin a life of faith and serious godliness; out of a state of sin into a state of grace we must pass, by the new birth, John iii.

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

Albert Barnes

1798–1870

Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)

Enter ye in at the strait gate - Christ here compares the way to life to an entrance through a gate. The words “straight” and “strait” have very different meanings. The former means “not crooked;” the latter, “pent up, narrow, difficult to be entered.” This is the word used here, and it means that the way to heaven is “pent up, narrow, close,” and not obviously entered. The way to death is open, broad, and thronged. The Saviour here referred probably to ancient cities. They were surrounded with walls and entered through gates.

J.C. Ryle

1816–1900

(1856)

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

25 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
Εἰσέλθατε	Eiselthate	do enter	G1525 →
διὰ	dia	through	G1223 →
τῆς	tēs	the	G3588 →
στενῆς	stenēs	narrow	G4728 →
πύλης,	pulēs	gate,	G4439 →
ὅτι	hoti	For	G3754 →
πλατεῖα	plateia	wide [is]	G4116 →
ἡ	hē	the	G3588 →
πύλη	pulē	gate	G4439 →
καὶ	kai	and	G2532 →
εὐρύχωρος	euruchōros	broad	G2149 →
ἡ	hē	the	G3588 →
ὁδὸς	hodos	way	G3598 →
ἡ	hē	which	G3588 →
ἀπάγουσα	apagousa	is leading	G520 →
εἰς	eis	to	G1519 →
τὴν	tēn	<the>	G3588 →
ἀπώλειαν,	apōleian	destruction,	G684 →
καὶ	kai	and	G2532 →
πολλοί	polloi	many	G4183 →
εἰσιν	eisin	are	G1510 →
οἱ	hoi	those	G3588 →
εἰσερχόμενοι	eiserchomenoi	entering	G1525 →
δι᾽	di᾽	through	G1223 →
αὐτῆς.	autēs	it.	G846 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
John 14:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
leads to
- Ephesians 2:18
  For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
- Acts 4:12
  Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
- John 10:9
  I am the gate. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture.
- John 11:25–26
  Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies.
- John 1:4
  In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.
Through
John 10:9
I am the gate. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture.
leads to
- John 14:6
  Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Through
Isaiah 55:7
Let the wicked man forsake his own way and the unrighteous man his own thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely…
leads to
- Proverbs 28:13
  He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.
- James 4:8–10
  Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.