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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 7:6 and Pirkei Avot 6:2

New Testament · Rabbinic

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Summary

In Matthew 7, Jesus tells people not to give holy things to dogs or pearls to pigs. Rabbinic tradition in Pirkei Avot uses a similar image for sharing sacred teaching with those who reject it, linking both sayings with choosing an audience.

Passages

Matthew 7:6

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

Pirkei Avot 6:2

Rabbinic · Mishnah
2 Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said: every day a bat kol (a heavenly voice) goes out from Mount Horeb, proclaiming: "Woe to humankind for their contempt towards the Torah," for whoever does not occupy himself with the study of Torah is called nazuf, rebuked, as it is said, "Like a gold ring in the snout of a pig is a beautiful woman bereft of sense" (Proverbs 11:22). And it says, "And the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved upon the tablets" (Exodus 32:16). Read not haruth ("engraved") but heruth ("freedom"), for there is no free man but one who occupies himself with the study of the Torah. And whoever regularly occupies himself with the study of the Torah is surely exalted, as it is said, "And from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and Nahaliel to Bamoth" (Numbers 21:19).
190–230 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Pirkei Avot

References

"... m. Baba Qamma 7:7 says that chickens are not raised in Jerusalem on account of 'the Holy Things'. This is followed by a reference to pigs and dogs, supporting Qumran's association of chickens and dogs with impurity: 'They do not rear pigs anywhere. A person should not rear a dog, unless it is kept tied up by a chain.' This concern seems to be echoed in a saying that Matthew attributes to Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount: 'Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you' (Matthew 7:6) ... These passages seem to reflect a concern similar to that voiced by the author of 4QMMT, that dogs will eat sacred food or sacrificial offerings ... Ugaritic and Hittite texts express a similar view that dogs should not have access to sacrificial offerings. Furthermore, in the Hittite texts dogs and pigs are considered unclean, defiling temple and sacrificial offerings through their presence: 'Maintain great respect for the sacrificial loaves (and) libation vessel(s) of the gods.... If a pig or dog does somehow force its way to the utensils of wood or clay that you have, and the kitchen worker does not throw it out, but gives it to the gods to eat from an unclean (vessel), to that one will the gods give excrement and urine to eat and drink.' Jesus' statement about not giving what is holy to dogs is echoed in Exodus, where God enjoins the Israelites to be holy by avoiding unclean meat (specifically 'meat torn by animals'), which should be thrown to the dogs ..."
Jodi Magness, Stone and Dung, Oil and Spit: Jewish Daily Life in the Time of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2011), 51–52.

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 7:6 and Pirkei Avot 6:2

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