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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 Matthew 7:2 and Neofiti Numbers 12:16

New Testament · Targum

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Summary

In Matthew 7, Jesus warns that the way you judge others will be used to judge you in return, echoing a principle found throughout Jewish tradition, including the Aramaic Targums, known as “measure for measure.”

Passages

Matthew 7:2

New Testament
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?
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

Neofiti Numbers 12:16

Targum
14 The Lord said to Moses, “If her father had scolded her harshly, it would be right for her to be humbled before him for seven days. Confine her outside the camp for seven days, and afterward she will be healed.” 15 Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not travel until Miriam was healed. 16 Although Miriam the prophetess was condemned to have a defiling skin disease, there is much teaching here for the wise and for those who keep the Law: for even a small commandment a person performs, he receives a great reward. Since Miriam stood on the riverbank to learn what would finally happen to Moses, Israel became 600,000, a total of eighty legions. The clouds of Glory and the well did not move or travel from their places until Miriam the prophetess was healed of her skin disease. ⟨After Miriam the prophetess was healed of her skin disease⟩, the people traveled from Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.
300–1000 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Neofiti Numbers

References

"... The moral concept of “measure for measure” is well known in Judaism, being broadly evidenced by the Targums and by rabbinic literature. Targum Isaiah 27:8 contains the addition, “With the measure you were measuring with they will measure you.” In Matthew 7:2 and Mark 4:24, Jesus utters a similar saying, “In the measure you measure it shall be measured you.” In both locations, the maxim is stated as an ethical concept that explains a judgment. In Targum Isaiah, the judgment applies to a future king who will be oppressing Israel and signals Israel’s rescue by God and the king’s defeat. In both Matthew and Mark, the phrase is cast in the plural and refers to Jesus’ listeners as he urges them ..."
Paul V. M. Flesher and Bruce D. Chilton, The Targums: A Critical Introduction, SAIS 12 (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2011), 396.

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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Matthew 7:2 and Neofiti Numbers 12:16

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