Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, the log is in your own eye?
Parallel translations
- WEB Or how will you tell your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye;’ and behold, the beam is in your own eye?
- KJV Or 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?
- BSB How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while there is still a beam in your own eye?
- NKJV Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?
- NLT How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye?
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
How can you offer to remove a speck from another's eye while a plank is in your own? Self-blindness disqualifies the harsh critic.
Overview
Continuing the vivid picture, Jesus shows the absurdity of presuming to help with another's small fault while a great one impairs your own vision. The would-be corrector is blind to his greater need. The verse does not forbid helping others but insists it begin with humble self-correction.
Cross-references & the web
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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.'
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Original language
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