Luke 6:42

42 How can you say to your brother, `Brother, let me remove the splinter from your eye,' when you yourself don't see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye; then you will see clearly, so that you can remove the splinter from your brother's eye!

Luke 6:42 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 6:42

Either how canst thou say to thy brother
Guilty of the lesser sin;

brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye;
that is, suffer me to reprove thee for thy sin: the word "brother" is omitted in the Cambridge copy of Beza's, and in the Persic version; nor is it in Matthew; but in the Syriac and Ethiopic versions it is read, "my brother"; pretending great affection and sincerity:

when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
that is, takest no notice of, and dost not refrain from a greater iniquity continued in:

thou hypocrite;
as such an one must be, that bears hard upon his brother, and severely censures him for a small crime, when he indulges in himself a far more abominable sin:

cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see
clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye:
the sense is, that a man should first reform himself, and then others.

Luke 6:42 In-Context

40 A talmid is not above his rabbi; but each one, when he is fully trained, will be like his rabbi.
41 So why do you see the splinter in your brother's eye, but not notice the log in your own eye?
42 How can you say to your brother, `Brother, let me remove the splinter from your eye,' when you yourself don't see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye; then you will see clearly, so that you can remove the splinter from your brother's eye!
43 "For no good tree produces bad fruit, nor does a bad tree produce good fruit.
44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit -- figs aren't picked from thorn bushes, nor grapes from a briar patch.

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Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.