Chapter 7

1Do not judge others, so that you will not be judged.

2You will be judged by the same standard you use to judge others. The measure you use for them will be used for you.

3Why do you notice the speck in another person’s eye but fail to notice the wooden beam in your own?

4How can you say to that person, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when there is a wooden beam in your own eye?

5You hypocrite! First take the beam out of your own eye. Then you will see clearly enough to take the speck out of the other person’s eye.

6Do not give what is sacred to people who are like dogs, or throw your pearls to people who are like pigs. They may trample the pearls under their feet, then turn and tear you apart.

7Ask God, and he will give to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you.

8Everyone who asks receives. Everyone who seeks finds, and the door will be opened for everyone who knocks.

9Would any of you give your son a stone when he asks for bread?

10Or would you give him a snake when he asks for a fish?

11If you, despite your wrongdoing, 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 people as you want them to treat you. This sums up what the Law of Moses and the writings of the prophets teach.

13Enter through the narrow gate. The gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction, and many people enter through it.

14The gate that leads to life is narrow, and the road is hard to travel. Only a few people find it.

15Watch out for false prophets—people who claim to speak for God but do not. They come to you disguised as harmless sheep, but inside they are wolves ready to attack.

16You will recognize them by their fruit—what their lives produce. People do not gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles, do they?

17In the same way, every healthy tree produces good fruit, but a diseased tree produces bad fruit.

18A healthy tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a diseased tree cannot produce good fruit.

19Every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

20So you will recognize false prophets by the fruit they produce.

21Not everyone who calls me “Lord, Lord” will enter God’s kingdom. Only those who do what my Father in heaven wants will enter.

22On the day of judgment, many people will say to me, “Lord, Lord, didn’t we speak messages from God in your name, drive out demons in your name, and perform many miracles in your name?”

23Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Get away from me, you who make a practice of disobeying God.”

24Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice will be like a wise person who built a house on rock.

25The rain came down, the floodwaters rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house. Yet it did not fall, because its foundation had been laid on rock.

26Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice will be like a foolish person who built a house on sand.

27The rain came down, the floodwaters rose, and the winds blew and struck that house. It fell, and its collapse was devastating.

28When Jesus finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching.

29He taught them as someone with authority, unlike their own teachers of religious law.