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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 Pseudo Jonathan Numbers 12:17

New Testament · Targum

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Summary

Matthew 7 depicts Jesus following an early form of the Aramaic “measure for measure” tradition that is used in the Aramaic translation of Numbers in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and also found in Rabbinic tradition.

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

Pseudo Jonathan Numbers 12:17

Targum
I entreat thee that Miriam, our sister, may not be defiled with leprosy in the tent, as the dead, for it is with her as with the infant which, having well fulfilled the time of the womb, perishes at the birth: so Miriam was with us in the land of Mizraim, seeing us in our captivity, our dispersion, our servitude; but now, when the time hath come for our going forth to possess the land of Israel behold she is kept back from us. I entreat thee, my lord, to pray for her, that her righteousness may not come to nought among the congregation. And Mosheh did pray, and seek mercy before the Lord, saying: I pray through the compassions of the merciful God, O Eloha, who hast power over the life of all flesh, heal her, I beseech thee. And the Lord said to Mosheh, If her father had corrected her, would she not have been disgraced, and secluded seven days? But to‑day, when I correct her, much more right is it that she should be dishonoured fourteen days: yet shall it suffice to seclude her seven days without the camp; and for thy righteousness will I make the Cloud of My Glory, the tabernacle, the ark, and all Israel, tarry until the time that she is healed, and then re‑admitted. And Miriam was kept apart without the camp for seven days, and the people went not forward until the time that Miriam was healed.
300–1200 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Pseudo Jonathan 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 Pseudo Jonathan Numbers 12:17

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