Matthew 7:10 is the tenth verse of the seventh chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament and is part of the Sermon on the Mount. This verse presents the second of a pair of metaphors explaining the benefits of prayer. Content In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads: Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? The World English Bible translates the passage as: Or if he asks for a fish, who will give him a serpent? The Novum Testamentum Graece text is: ἢ καὶ ἰχθὺν αἰτήσει, μὴ ὄφιν ἐπιδώσει αὐτῷ; For a collection of other versions see BibleHub Matthew 7:10 Analysis The first comparison was bread and stones, this second one has the same metaphor but with a different pair of objects. The basic metaphor of this verse, as with the previous one is that a human father would not refuse a basic desire from his son, so God too would not refuse a basic need of one of his followers, when they ask him. Second to bread fish would have been the main food source for the communities around the Sea of Galilee where Jesus was preaching, and fish and fishing metaphors appear a number of times in the New Testament. As with stones and loaves fish and snakes are somewhat similar in appearance. Both are long thin scaled creatures. A dried fish may look like snakeskin. France notes that a common catch in the Lake of Galilee was the eel-like Clarias lazera, a type of catfish, which looks very much like a snake. Unlike rocks, which were of little use but inoffensive, snakes were considered a dangerous, evil creature and positively harmful. A snake is the form of the tempter in Genesis, and other negative snake metaphors appear in the New Testament. This metaphor is thus somewhat stronger than the previous one. In Luke there is a third metaphor of a scorpion and an egg, which does not continue the pattern of similar appearances. This metaphor does not appear in Matthew. Commentary from the Church Fathers Pseudo-Chrysostom: And what are the things that we ought to ask, he shows under the likeness of a loaf, and a fish. The loaf is the word concerning the knowledge of God the Father. The stone is all falsehood that has a stumbling-block of offence to the soul. Saint Remigius: