What does Matthew 21:22 mean?

And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

Matthew 21:22, King James Version

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The verse in its chapter

Matthew 21:20-24

20 And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!
21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
23 And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?
24 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things.

Study note

Tyndale Open Study Notes (CC BY-SA 4.0).

21:22 Jesus was exhorting the disciples to trust in God and to pray accordingly. He was not offering God’s unconditional endorsement of all that they might desire (1 Jn 5:14-15).

Cross references

Other Bible passages linked to this one, most cited first.

Matthew 7:7
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
1 John 5:14-15
And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
Mark 11:24
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
1 John 3:22
And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
John 14:13
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
Matthew 18:19
Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.

About the book of Matthew

Author: anonymous; early church tradition credits the apostle Matthew
When: c. AD 60 to 80
Period: Vida de Jesus, c. 5 a.C. a 33 d.C. (in Portuguese)

Authorship: the book itself or Christian tradition. Approximate dates, as in Carson and Moo, An Introduction to the New Testament, and Longman and Dillard, An Introduction to the Old Testament.

In the Mercy Bible Atlas (in Portuguese)

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