You hypocrite! First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Parallel translations
- WEB You hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye.
- KJV Thou 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.
- NKJV Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
- NASB You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye!
- NLT Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s 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
First remove the plank from your own eye; then you can help your brother with his speck. Self-examination must precede helping others.
Overview
Jesus names the hypocrite directly and prescribes the cure: deal first with your own sin, and only then will you see clearly to help your brother. Far from forbidding all correction, he commends it once the heart is humbled and cleansed. This balances the warning against judging with a genuine call to gracious, clear-sighted concern for others' good.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Luke 6:42How can you say, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while you yourself fail to see the beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
- Ps 51:9–13Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.
- Matt 23:13–28Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter.
- Luke 13:15“You hypocrites!” the Lord replied. “Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it to water?
- Luke 4:23Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to Me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! Do here in Your hometown what we have heard that You did in Capernaum.’”
- Matt 22:18But Jesus knew their evil intent and said, “You hypocrites, why are you testing Me?
- Luke 12:56You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and sky. Why don’t you know how to interpret the present time?
- Acts 19:15Eventually, one of the evil spirits answered them, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?”
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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 7:5 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.