How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while there is still a beam in your own eye?
He presses the mismatch between offering correction and carrying a larger fault oneself.
The verse deepens the charge of inconsistency.
1“Do not judge, or you will be judged. 2For with the same judgment you pronounce, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but fail to notice the beam in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while there is still a beam in your own eye? 5You 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. 6Do not give dogs what is holy; do not throw your pearls before swine. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.