Matthew 7:1-12
Judging and Asking
Read the passage
Matthew 7:1-12 · 12 verses
Read the passage
Matthew 7:1-12 · 12 verses
Matthew 7:1-12
1Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4Or 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?
5Thou 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.
6Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
7Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
9Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
10Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
12Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
Jesus turns to two postures that shape the whole of a disciple's life toward others and toward God. The first is the posture of the critic: the one who peers at the speck in a brother's eye while a beam blocks his own sight. Censorious judgement is not merely unkind — it is blind, and the measure it applies returns upon the one who wielded it. But before the section ends it has opened into something far larger: a stunning, open-armed invitation to pray. Ask, seek, knock — three verbs, each commanding something bolder than the last. The Father is not reluctant; He gives good things to those who ask. And the whole movement closes with the Golden Rule, which is nothing less than the generous heart of the Father becoming the shape of the disciple's life.