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!
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.
- BSB 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.
- 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.
- 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 6:42Or how can you tell your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck of chaff that is in your eye,’ when you yourself don’t see the beam that is in your own eye? You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck of chaff that is in your brother’s eye.
- Ps 51:9–13Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all of my iniquities.
- Matt 23:13–28“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
- Luke 13:15Therefore the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each one of you free his ox or his donkey from the stall on the Sabbath, and lead him away to water?
- Luke 4:23He said to them, “Doubtless you will tell me this parable, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in your hometown.’”
- Matt 22:18But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test me, you hypocrites?
- Luke 12:56You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how is it that you don’t interpret this time?
- Acts 19:15The evil spirit answered, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.