Bible Strands
Luke 6:42
How can you say, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while you yourself fail to see the beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus addresses his disciples during the Sermon on the Plain, confronting those who presume to correct others while ignoring their own faults. He speaks in a teaching moment that immediately follows the speck-and-beam illustration and precedes the parable of the good and bad tree.
The words — πῶς (pōs) means "how" and δύνᾳ (dunai) means "are you able," forming a rhetorical question that exposes the logical impossibility of the speaker's claim. The term ἀδελφέ (adelphe) translates literally to "brother," underscoring the familial bond violated by the hypocritical correction.
The thread — The demand for self-examination before correcting others appears in Romans 2:21, where teaching others while failing to teach oneself is condemned, and in Psalm 51:9, which calls for God to blot out personal iniquity. The sequence continues in Luke 6:43, which establishes that a tree's fruit reveals its true nature.
Why it lands — The text requires a reader to remove their own glaring faults before attempting to address another's minor ones. It demands honest self-assessment as the strict prerequisite for any moral or spiritual intervention.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, 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.
Cross-references
- Romans 2:21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?
- 1 Thessalonians 2:10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous, and blameless our conduct was among you who believed.
- Psalms 51:9 Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.
- Matthew 23:13 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter.
- Proverbs 18:17 The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.
- Matthew 26:75 Then Peter remembered the word that Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.
- Luke 13:15 “You hypocrites!” the Lord replied. “Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it to water?
- Luke 22:32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
- Acts 2:38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
- Acts 8:21 You have no part or share in our ministry, because your heart is not right before God.