Luke 6:42

42 Or how can you say to your neighbor, "Friend, let me take out the speck in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor'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 disciple is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher.

41 Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?

42 Or how can you say to your neighbor, "Friend, let me take out the speck in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye.

43 "No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit;

44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.

Footnotes

• [a]. Gk [brother]
• [b]. Gk [brother]
• [c]. Gk [brother's]