Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
Parallel translations
- WEB Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but don’t consider the beam that is in your own eye?
- KJV And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
- BSB Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own eye?
- NKJV And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?
- NLT “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Why notice a speck in another's eye while ignoring the plank in your own? Jesus exposes the hypocrisy of magnifying others' faults while excusing our own.
Overview
With deliberate exaggeration, Jesus pictures someone fixated on a tiny speck in a neighbor's eye while a great beam protrudes from his own. The image lays bare the hypocrisy of harsh judgment that overlooks one's larger sins. It calls for honest self-examination before any attempt to correct another.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- John 8:7–9But when they continued asking him, he looked up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her.”
- Gal 6:1Brothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to yourself so that you also aren’t tempted.
- Luke 6:41–42Why do you see the speck of chaff that is in your brother’s eye, but don’t consider the beam that is in your own eye?
- 2 Sam 12:5–6David’s anger burned hot against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As Yahweh lives, the man who has done this deserves to die!
- Luke 18:11The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself like this: ‘God, I thank you, that I am not like the rest of men, extortionists, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
- Ps 50:16–21But to the wicked God says, “What right do you have to declare my statutes, that you have taken my covenant on your lips,
- 2 Chr 28:9–10But a prophet of Yahweh was there, whose name was Oded; and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria, and said to them, “Behold, because Yahweh, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he has delivered them into your hand, and you have slain them in a rage which has reached up to heaven.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 7:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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