Matthew 7

Do not judge other people, or you will be judged yourself.

1Judge not, that ye be not judged.

NoteKJV "Judge not" translates a Greek verb that covers everything from forming an opinion to passing legal sentence; here the sense is condemning, not simply assessing. "That ye be not judged" is a way of saying God will judge, a common first-century way of speaking of God's action without naming him.

2The same standard you use to judge others will be used to judge you. The same measuring cup you use on others will be used to measure out what comes back to you.

2For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

Note"Mete" is an old English verb meaning to measure out. The picture is a market transaction: grain scooped and sold by a measuring vessel, where the scoop the seller used on his customer is handed back and used on him.

3Why do you stare at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye, but pay no attention to the wooden beam in your own eye?

3And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

NoteA "mote" is a tiny speck of dust or chip of wood. A "beam" is a heavy squared timber of the kind that carries a roof. Both objects come from the woodworker's shop, and the whole force of the saying is the absurd difference in size.

4How can you say to your brother, "Let me take that speck out of your eye," when there is a beam sticking out of your own eye?

4Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

5You hypocrite! First pull the beam out of your own eye. Then you will see clearly enough to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

5Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

Note"Hypocrite" was the ordinary Greek word for an actor on the stage, a man delivering lines that are not his own from behind a mask.

6Do not give holy things to dogs, and do not throw your pearls in front of pigs, or they may trample them under their feet, and turn on you and tear you apart.

6Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

NoteDogs here are not pets but the half-wild scavengers that lived off village refuse. Pigs were unclean animals that no Jewish household kept. "That which is holy" most likely means meat from a sacrifice, which was reserved for the priests and their households and could never be thrown to animals.

7Ask, and it will be given to you. Look, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you.

7Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

Note"Ask," "seek" and "knock" stand in a Greek tense that carries the sense of continuing action: keep asking, keep looking, keep knocking, rather than trying once.

8Everyone who asks receives. The one who looks finds. And the door is opened for the one who knocks.

8For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

9Which one of you, if your son asked you for bread, would hand him a stone instead?

9Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

NoteThe small round barley loaves of the time looked much like the smooth stones lying about on the ground, which is what makes the swap a cruel joke rather than an honest mistake.

10Or if he asked you for a fish, would hand him a snake?

10Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

NoteSome water creatures of the Sea of Galilee, eels in particular, look enough like snakes to make the pairing work. A snake was also an unclean creature that no one at the table would eat.

11So if you, bad as you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to the people who ask him!

11If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

Note"How much more" is a standard form of Jewish argument, running from the smaller case to the greater: if the lesser thing is true, the greater is certainly true.

12So in everything, treat other people the way you want them to treat you. This is what the Law and the Prophets add up to.

12Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

Note"The law and the prophets" was the ordinary name for the Hebrew scriptures, the five books of Moses together with the prophetic books. To say that a single rule is "the law and the prophets" is to say it is what the whole collection comes down to.

13Go in through the narrow gate. The gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction, and many people go in that way.

13Enter 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:

Note"Strait" in 1611 English means narrow or tightly constricted, as in a strait between two coasts or in dire straits. It has nothing to do with "straight." The gate and road are city images: a broad highway running up to a wide main gate, against a cramped side entrance.

14But the gate is small and the road is narrow that leads to life, and only a few people find it.

14Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Note"Strait" again means narrow, not straight. The Greek behind KJV "Because" is read two ways in the surviving copies: either "because narrow is the gate" or as an exclamation, "how narrow is the gate!"

15Watch out for false prophets, people who claim to speak for God but do not. They come to you dressed as sheep, but on the inside they are hungry wolves.

15Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Note"Ravening" means ravenous, tearing at prey. The sheep's clothing is a woolen or sheepskin garment; a rough hair cloak was the traditional dress of a prophet, so the picture also mocks the costume such men wore.

16You will know them by the fruit they produce. Do people pick grapes off thornbushes, or figs off thistles?

16Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

Note"Ye shall know them" means you will recognize them, pick them out. The comparison is about a convincing look from a distance: the buckthorn carries small dark berries that pass for grapes at a glance, and certain thistle heads roughly resemble figs.

17In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit.

17Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

18A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit.

18A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

19Every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire.

19Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Note"Hewn down, and cast into the fire" repeats, word for word, what John the Baptist says earlier in Matthew (3:10). It was stock language for judgment.

20So then, you will know these people by the fruit they produce.

20Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

21Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only the person who does what my Father in heaven wants will enter.

21Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Note"Lord" translates a Greek word whose range runs from a polite "sir," through the master of a household or a slave owner, to the title used for God in the Greek Old Testament. Saying it twice over was a form of urgent or emphatic address.

22On that day many people will say to me, "Lord, Lord, didn't we speak for you as prophets? Didn't we drive out demons in your name? Didn't we do many miracles in your name?"

22Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

Note"That day" was a fixed expression for the day of God's judgment; no further identification was needed. "In thy name" means acting on someone's authority, the way an official acts in the king's name. KJV "devils" is simply older English for demons. "Wonderful works" translates a word meaning acts of power, that is, miracles.

23Then I will tell them straight out, "I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God's law."

23And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Note"Profess" here means to declare openly and formally, not to claim something doubtful. "I never knew you" uses "know" in its sense of acknowledging someone as one's own, close to the wording Jewish teachers used to put a person outside the community. "Ye that work iniquity" renders a phrase meaning workers of lawlessness, and echoes Psalm 6:8.

24So everyone who hears these words of mine and does what they say is like a wise man who built his house on rock.

24Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

NoteIn that country a builder either dug down through the loose surface to strike bedrock, which was slow and expensive, or saved the labor and built straight onto the level floor of a dry valley.

25The rain came down, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house. But it did not fall, because it was built on rock.

25And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

NoteThe valley floors of the region are dry through the summer and carry torrents of water in the winter rains, sometimes within minutes of a storm miles away. KJV "the floods came" means exactly this kind of flash torrent, not a slow rise of water.

26And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do what they say is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

26And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

27The rain came down, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house. It fell, and it came down with a crash.

27And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

28When Jesus had finished saying all this, the crowds were amazed at his teaching,

28And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:

Note"Doctrine" in 1611 English means simply teaching, without the modern sense of a fixed system of beliefs. The phrase "when Jesus had ended these sayings" is a formula Matthew repeats at the close of each of the five large blocks of teaching in his book.

29because he taught them as someone who had authority, not the way their scribes taught.

29For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

NoteScribes were the professional experts in the Law, trained to copy, interpret and teach it, and they were the recognized teachers of the community. Their method was to support a ruling by citing earlier authorities, so a teacher who pronounced on his own say-so was doing something conspicuous.