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Matthew

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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 Sanhedrin 100a

New Testament · Rabbinic

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Summary

In Matthew 7, Jesus says people will be judged by the standard they use for others. Rabbinic tradition in tractate Sanhedrin similarly describes people receiving the treatment they give, applying the same principle of 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? 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.
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

Sanhedrin 100a

Rabbinic · Babylonian Talmud
In a related matter, it is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Meir says: In accordance with the measure that a person metes out for others the heavenly court metes out for him, i.e., the response is commensurate with the action, as it is written: “In full measure [besasse’a] when You send her away do You contend with her” (Isaiah 27:8). The term besasse’a is interpreted as bese’a se’a, meaning that one receives a measure [se’a] commensurate with the measure [bese’a] that he meted out.
450–550 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Sanhedrin

References

"... Although the matter of forgiveness as it is expressed here seems to belong to a kind of “theology of reciprocity”—that is, as we have forgiven others, so may God forgive us—in fact it does not. The idea that one receives good for having done good or, conversely, receives ill for having done that, might seem sufficient to understand what is being said here in the prayer. Indeed there are numerous passages in the ancient literature in which the concept of “measure for measure” is spoken of (e.g., Matthew 7:2, m. Sotah 1:7, and others). But Matthew’s point here (and many Talmudic passages concur with this) is that the showing of mercy represents an exceptional case, for the one who shows mercy to others receives mercy not from others but from God. That is, the act of showing mercy to others overrides the theology of reciprocity, which states that because I have injured another, I now deserve to be injured by another in turn. But if I have forgiven either what another owes me, or else what another has done to me, then it is God who shows mercy on me. If we were to choose a Semitic term for what Matthew’s Jesus means here by “forgive,” it would likely be “meḥillah,” which is also the word used in expressions concerning the forgiving or foregoing of collection of loans. Later Jewish prayer did not ask for forgiveness in the way it is asked for in Jesus’ prayer. Rather the “Eighteen Blessing” prayer simply requests, “Forgive us, for we have sinned.” Matthew says more about this theme of forgiveness in verses 14–15 ..."
Herbert W. Basser and Marsha B. Cohen, The Gospel of Matthew and Judaic Traditions: A Relevance-Based Commentary, BRLJ 46 (Leiden: Brill, 2015), 187–188.

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 Sanhedrin 100a

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