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Matthew

About this book
Chapter 7

1 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.⁠ 2 For by the standard you judge you will be judged, and the measure you use will be the measure you receive.⁠ 3 Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to see the beam of wood in your own?⁠ 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye,’ while there is a beam in your own? 5 You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.⁠ 6 Do not give what is holy to dogs⁠ or throw your pearls before pigs;⁠ otherwise they will trample them under their feet and turn around and tear you to pieces.⁠ 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;⁠ knock and the door will be opened for you.⁠ 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.⁠ 9 Is there anyone among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, although you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!⁠ 12 In everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you,⁠ for this fulfills the law and the prophets.⁠ 13 “Enter through the narrow gate because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.⁠ 14 How narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it! 15 “Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves.⁠ 16 You will recognize them by their fruit. Grapes are not gathered from thorns or figs from thistles, are they?⁠ 17 In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree is not able to bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree to bear good fruit.⁠ 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.⁠ 20 So then, you will recognize them by their fruit. 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’⁠ will enter into the kingdom of heaven—only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.⁠ 22 On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many powerful deeds in your name?’ 23 Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’⁠ 24 “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on rock.⁠ 25 The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, but it did not collapse because its foundation had been laid on rock. 26 Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, and it collapsed—it was utterly destroyed!” 28 When Jesus finished saying these things,⁠ the crowds were amazed by his teaching,⁠ 29 because he taught them like one who had authority, not like their experts in the law.

Texts in conversation

Compare Sirach 21:10 and Matthew 7:13

Deuterocanon · New Testament

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Summary

Sirach and Matthew follow the “two ways” tradition from Deuteronomy, where obedience brings life and disobedience brings ruin. Both use the image of a path, and Jesus’ picture of a deceptively wide gate echoes Sirach’s deceptively smooth road.

Passages

Sirach 21:10

Deuterocanon · Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
8 He who builds his house with other men’s money is like one who gathers stones for his own tomb. 9 The congregation of wicked men is as a bundle of tow with a flame of fire at the end of them. 10 The way of sinners is paved with stones; and at the end of it is the pit of Hades. 11 He who keeps the law becomes master of its intent. The fulfilment of the fear of the Lord is wisdom. 12 He who is not clever will not be instructed. There is a cleverness which makes bitterness abound.
195–180 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Sirach

Matthew 7:13

New Testament
11 If you then, although you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 In everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you, for this fulfills the law and the prophets. 13 “Enter through the narrow gate because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 How narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it! 15 “Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves.
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

References

"... There can be no doubt that the JOURNEY metaphor in the religious context of the Bible draws a clear, dichotomous distinction between two ways of life, the good, moral life on the one hand versus the bad, immoral life on the other hand. This dichotomy runs through all the detailed aspects of the metaphorical model. Thus, following the introduction of the two general kinds of journey, we will look at the two sorts of paths and the two kinds of travelers involved. Finally, we will come to God's role in the metaphorical scenario, which also comprises two basically different attitudes and ways of acting. After this analysis of metaphors from the Old Testament, we will take a short look at some interesting reflections of these in examples from the New Testament ... The most important structural metaphor in the model investigated is a specification of the simple LIFE IS A JOURNEY metaphor. The result is a clear moral imperative: LEADING A MORAL LIFE IS MAKING A JOURNEY ON GOD'S WAY ... (The source of each example presented in this paper is provided by giving the biblical book plus the standard verse number ... Deuteronomy 5:33; Deuteronomy 11:28; Proverbs 16:25; Psalm 119:32; Jeremiah 18:15; Proverbs 5:21; Matthew 7:13; Sirach 21:10) ..."
Olaf Jäkel, Hypotheses Revisited: The Cognitive Theory of Metaphor Applied to Religious Texts (metaphorik.de, 2002), 20–42.
"... The eighty-fifth of the Apostolical Canons gives a list of the books of the Hebrew Canon, and adds the first three books of the Maccabees and the Wisdom of Sirach; these last four are not, however, included in the Canon, though the Wisdom of Sirach is specially recommended for the instruction of the young. Again, in the Apostolical Constitutions, 6:14, 15, quotations from Sirach are given with the same formula as those from the books of the Hebrew Canon, but in the list given in 2:57 of the same work, there is no mention of any of the books of the Apocrypha ... The evidence of Clement of Alexandria is conflicting; in his Paedagogus he quotes very often from Sirach, and speaks of it as 'scripture', from which it would evidently appear that he regarded it as canonical Scripture; but, according to Eusebius, Clement reckoned Sirach among the 'Antilegomena', for in speaking of Clement's works he mentions the Stromateis, or 'Medleys', and says: 'He quotes in them passages from the disputed Scriptures, the so-called Wisdom of Solomon, for example, and of Jesus the son of Sirach, and the Epistle to the Hebrews, and those of Barnabas, Clement, and Jude ..."
R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament (Oxford University Press, 1913), 299.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Sirach 21:10 and Matthew 7:13

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