Bible Verse Lookup
Mt 7,23
Chapter 7
Judging Others
Do not judge, and you will not be judged.
In the same way, you judge others, you will be judged; and the measure you use for others will be used for you.
Why do you notice the speck in your brother’s eye but ignore the plank in your own?
How can you tell your brother, ‘Come, let me take the speck from your eye,’ when you have a plank in your own?
Hypocrite, first remove the plank from your own eye, then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Holy Things
Do not give what is sacred to dogs, or toss your pearls before pigs. They might trample them and then attack you, tearing you apart.
Perseverance in Prayer
Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives; whoever seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Would any of you give a stone to your son when he asks for bread?
Or give him a snake when he asks for a fish?
No matter how flawed you are, you know how to give good things to your children. So, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
The Golden Rule
So, do to others whatever you would want them to do to you: there you have the law and the prophets.
The Narrow Gate
Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many go that way.
How narrow is the gate that leads to life, and how rough the road; few there are who find it.
The Tree Is Known By Its Fruit
Beware of false prophets: they appear as harmless sheep, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
You will recognize them by their fruits. Do you ever pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?
A healthy tree always bears good fruit, while a rotten tree yields bad fruit.
A healthy tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a rotten tree cannot bear good fruit.
Any tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
So then, you will recognize them by their fruit.
It Is Not Enough to Say: “Lord, Lord!”
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not speak in your name? Did we not cast out devils and perform many miracles in your name?’
Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I have never known you; away from me, you evil people!’
Rock and Sand
Therefore, anyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on rock.
The rain poured down, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house. But it did not collapse, because it was built on rock.
But anyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them is like a fool who built his house on sand.
The rain poured, rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house; it collapsed, and what a terrible collapse that was!”
When Jesus finished this teaching, the crowds were amazed
because he taught with authority, unlike their teachers of the law.
Chapter 23
Invective Against the Scribes and Pharisees
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:
“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.
So, you should do and follow everything they say; but do not imitate their actions, for they do not do what they preach.
They burden people with heavy loads and load them onto their shoulders, but they themselves won’t lift a finger to move them.
They do everything to be noticed by others: wearing large bands of the law around their foreheads and robes with oversized tassels.
They enjoy the front seats at banquets and the best spots in the synagogues,
and they love being greeted in the marketplace and called ‘Master’ by others.
But you, do not let yourselves be called Master, because you have only one Master, and all of you are brothers and sisters.
Neither should you call anyone on earth Father, because you have only one Father—he who is in heaven.
You should not be called Master, because you have but one master, the Messiah.
Let the greatest among you be the servant of all.
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
But woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door to the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You, yourselves, do not enter, nor do you allow others to do so.
[[Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You consume widows’ property, and in public, you pray lengthy prayers! Therefore, you will receive greater condemnation.]]
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel across sea and land to make a single convert; yet, once he is converted, you make him a child of Gehenna twice as much as yourselves!
Woe to you, blind guides! You say: To swear by the temple is not binding, but to swear by the gold of the temple is binding.
Foolish men! Blind men! Which is more valuable: the gold inside the temple, or the temple itself, which makes the gold a sacred treasure? You say:
Swearing by the altar isn’t binding, but swearing by the offering on the altar is binding.
How blind you are! Which is more valuable: the offering on the altar or the altar itself, which makes the offering sacred?
Whoever swears by the altar is also swearing by everything on it.
Whoever swears by the temple is also swearing by God, who dwells in the temple.
Whoever swears by heaven is swearing by God’s throne and by Him who sits on it.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You carefully avoid neglecting the mint, anise, and cumin seeds when you demand the tenth of everything, but then, you forget what is most fundamental in the law: justice, mercy, and faith! You should have practiced these things without neglecting the others.
Blind guides! You remove a mosquito but swallow a camel.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You fill the plate and the cup with theft and violence, then pronounce a blessing over them.
Blind Pharisee! Clean the inside first, and then the outside will be clean as well.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, beautiful on the outside, but inside, there are only dead bones and uncleanness.
Similarly, you seem religious to others, but inside you’re full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous.
You say: Had we lived in the time of our ancestors, we would not have joined them in shedding the blood of the prophets.
So, you yourselves confess to being descendants of those who murdered the prophets.
And now, complete what your ancestors started!
Serpents, race of vipers! How can you escape being sentenced to Gehenna?
Therefore, I am sending prophets, wise men, and teachers to you; but some of them you will murder and crucify, some you will flog in your synagogues, and others you will drive from one city to the next.
Because of this, you will be held responsible for all the innocent blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the altar and the Sanctuary.
Truly I tell you: the current generation will pay for all of this.
Lament for Jerusalem
Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You kill the prophets and stone those sent to you by God. How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you refused!
Look! Your house will be left to you, deserted!
I tell you that you will no longer see me until you say:
Blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord!

Commentaries
Judging Others – Holy Things.
The Sermon on the Mount gradually dismantles the internal barriers and conditioning that imprison and enslave people from a new perspective that transforms ethics and all traditional human behavior: the presence of the kingdom of God. It does so by addressing the law of retaliation, the desire to possess, and anxiety about tomorrow; now it also challenges judgment against one’s brother.
Perseverance in Prayer – The Golden Rule.
At this point in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ disciple-listener might feel overwhelmed by the radical challenges posed by the kingdom of God, challenges that seem utopian, bordering on the absurd, and beyond our human ability to understand and accomplish.
The “golden rule” (12) is not a new concept; it appears in the ethical codes of all religions and cultures in some form. What is new is the radically different perspective from which it is now presented: the presence of the kingdom of God among us, which changes our behavior toward each other and unleashes a love that knows no limits.
The Narrow Gate.
Matthew concludes the Sermon on the Mount with an epilogue that highlights the difficult situation faced by Christians of his time, who were not protected from hostility and persecution. While the evangelist is thinking of the communities he is writing to, Jesus’ words are meant for followers of all eras, for whom living by the Gospel’s values often runs counter to the norm—socially, politically, and sometimes religiously.
The Tree Is Known By Its Fruit – It Is Not Enough to Say: “Lord, Lord!” – Rock and Sand.
In the Old Testament, false prophets were the nightmare of true prophets (cf. Jr 23 and Ezk 13), just as false teachers were the nightmare of early Christian communities. The criterion for discernment is clear: By their fruits you will recognize them. It is not a question of correct doctrine, but of doing the will of the Father and living as Jesus lived (25:31-46).
Invective Against the Scribes and Pharisees.
Here, the conflict between the Christian community and the Jewish religious authorities reaches its peak. Conditions and genre influence the text: the language likely reflects a time when Christians had already separated from the Jewish community. In contrast, the literary style of “polemic” accounts for obvious exaggerations or oversimplifications when describing the enemy. Religion involves the heart, both vertically in relation to God and horizontally in relation to neighbors. When this does not happen, it can become overwhelming, suffocating, and enslaving.
Lament for Jerusalem.
This entire section, set in Jerusalem, now concludes with a lament. These final words of Jesus are mainly directed at the religious leaders of the Holy City, who consistently held an attitude of mistrust and suspicion toward Jesus and therefore did not accept God’s salvation. There are two charges: killing the prophets and rejecting Jesus’ invitation (37). As a result, God will no longer dwell in the Temple (38), and Jesus the Messiah will not appear there until he returns as judge with the full arrival of the kingdom of God.