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Matthew 7

1Do not judge, so that you will not be judged. 2For with the judgment you judge by, you will be judged, and with the measure you measure by, it will be measured to you. 3Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not notice the beam in your own eye? 4Or how can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when look, the beam is in your own eye? 5Hypocrite! First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

6Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you apart.

7Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9Or which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11So if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him! 12So in everything, whatever you want people to do to you, do the same to them; for this is the Law and the Prophets.

13Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14For narrow is the gate and constricted is the road that leads to life, and few find it.

15Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16You will recognize them by their fruit. Do people gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17So every good tree produces good fruit, but a rotten tree produces bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree produce good fruit. 19Every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20So then, you will recognize them by their fruit.

21Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty deeds in your name?” 23And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.”

24So everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. 25And the rain fell, and the rivers came, and the winds blew and struck that house, and it did not fall, for it had been founded on rock. 26And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27And the rain fell, and the rivers came, and the winds blew and battered that house, and it fell, and great was its fall.

28When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

Translation notes 7

7:1–5 — Judgment; beam. The repeated judgment language is retained. The enormous beam contrasts with a speck of material; the image has not been reduced to “a greater fault.”

7:6 — Dogs and pigs. The text does not explicitly identify whom the animals represent. The final actions may be distributed between the two groups; the wording leaves that open.

7:7–11 — Asking and gifts. The repeated commands are retained without adding a promise about receiving every requested object. Verse 11 says “good things”; it is not replaced with wording from Luke's parallel passage.

7:13–14 — Road. “Constricted” preserves the image of a pressed or confined way; “difficult” is another rendering. The base text begins verse 14 with “for”; another Greek reading yields “how narrow.”

7:17–20 — Tree and fruit. “Rotten” is also rendered “diseased” or “bad.” The repeated tree-and-fruit comparison is retained rather than paraphrased into a direct description of people and behavior.

7:22–23 — Name and lawlessness. “In your name” occurs three times. “Mighty deeds” refers to miracles; the Greek word differs from the ordinary word for “deeds” in 5:16. “Lawlessness” preserves the relationship to law rather than supplying a particular list of sins.

7:24–29 — Builders and teachers. The builders are described as men. “Foolish” here has no explicit emptiness image. The rivers are the flooding waters that strike the houses. Scribes were learned specialists in the scriptural tradition, not merely copyists.