Matthew 7

1Stop passing judgment on others, so that you will not be judged. 2The way you judge others is the way you will be judged, and the measure you use for them will be used for you. 3Why do you stare at the splinter in the eye of a brother or sister, and never notice the beam of wood in your own? 4How can you say to a brother or sister, ‘Let me take that splinter out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a beam in your own? 5You hypocrite! First take the beam out of your own eye. Then you will see clearly enough to take the splinter out of the eye of a brother or sister.

6Do not give holy things to dogs, and do not throw your pearls to pigs. They may trample them underfoot and then turn on you and tear you apart.

7Keep asking, and you will receive. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened for you. 8For everyone who asks receives, whoever seeks finds, and the door is opened to whoever knocks. 9Would any of you give your child a stone when they asked for bread? 10Or give them a snake when they asked for a fish? 11So if you, sinful as you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

12So in everything, treat others the way you would want them to treat you, for this is what the law and the prophets are about.

13Go in through the narrow gate. The gate that leads to destruction is wide and the road to it is easy, and many go in that way. 14But the gate that leads to life is narrow and the road is hard, and only a few find it.

15Watch out for false prophets. They come to you looking like sheep, but underneath they are hungry wolves. 16You will know them by what their lives produce. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17In the same way, every healthy tree bears good fruit, and a diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a diseased tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Any tree that fails to bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20So you will know them by what their lives produce.

21Not everyone who calls me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do what my Father in heaven wants. 22On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’ 23And then I will say to them openly, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you who break God’s law.’

24So anyone who listens to what I have said here and acts on it will be like a sensible person who built a house on solid rock. 25The rain poured down, the floods rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house. But it did not fall, because its foundation was on rock. 26And anyone who listens to what I have said here and does not act on it will be like a foolish person who built a house on sand. 27The rain poured down, the floods rose, and the winds blew and battered that house, and it fell. And what a fall it was!”

28When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were amazed at his teaching. 29He taught them like someone with authority of his own, not like their scribes.