Passage

Matthew 7.1

"Do not judge so that you will not be judged." (Matthew 7:1, NASB95)

The most-misused verse in modern moral discourse. Lifted from its Sermon on the Mount context, Matthew 7:1 is weaponized to silence any moral evaluation as un-Christian. Read in context, Jesus condemns hypocritical condemnation (the speck-and-log image of verses 3 to 5), not discernment as such, the very same chapter commands believers to test prophets by their fruit (verses 15 to 20). The objection equivocates on two senses of "judge."

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. Judge not, that ye be not judged."

"2. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you. 3. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" (Matthew 7:1-3, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. “Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged."

"2. For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you. 3. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but don’t consider the beam that is in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:1-3, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. Judge not, that ye be not judged."

"2. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" (Matthew 7:1-3, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. 'Judge not, that ye may not be judged,"

"2. for in what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and in what measure ye measure, it shall be measured to you. 3. 'And why dost thou behold the mote that [is] in thy brother's eye, and the beam that [is] in thine own eye dost not consider?" (Matthew 7:1-3, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Jesus, in direct sermon address
Audience: the crowds plus the disciples, on a Galilean hillside
Location: Galilee, traditionally the Mount of Beatitudes near Capernaum
Time period: events c. AD 28 to 30, during Jesus' Galilean ministry; composed c. AD 60 to 80

Theological reading

Christ's prohibition lands inside a sustained warning against hypocrisy that runs from Matthew 6 (almsgiving, prayer, and fasting done for show) into chapter 7. The verb krino covers a wide range, from neutral evaluation through judicial verdict to censorious condemnation. The immediately following verses fix the sense Jesus has in view, the man with the log in his own eye who presumes to extract the speck from his brother's. The fault is not perception, it is the moral incoherence of judging others by a standard one exempts oneself from.

Verse 5 closes the loop, "first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." Jesus does not abolish the brotherly correction, he orders it. Self-examination is the precondition of legitimate moral discernment, not its replacement. The Christian moral life cannot proceed without judgment, what verses 1 and 2 forbid is the hypocritical, censorious posture that mistakes itself for righteousness.

The wider New Testament confirms this reading. John 7:24 commands "judge with righteous judgment," 1 Corinthians 5 and 6 instructs the church to judge moral matters internally, and Matthew 7:15 to 20 itself orders the disciples to inspect prophets' fruit and discard the false. The contemporary "do not judge" objection thus equivocates, treating Jesus' condemnation of hypocritical condemnation as if it forbade moral evaluation as such. The two senses of "judge" are distinct, and Christianity affirms the second while forbidding the first.

Key words

G2920 - krisis, krisis, the act or process of judgment, here in the censorious sense.
G2588 - kardia, kardia, the heart, the seat of the dispositions that color one's judgment.

Theological themes

Equivocation on "judge." The objector reads Jesus as forbidding all moral evaluation; the text forbids only hypocritical condemnation. The same chapter commands discernment by fruit.
Hypocrisy as the target. The speck-and-log image (verses 3 to 5) fixes the sense, the fault is the inconsistency of standards, not the act of evaluation.
Measure-for-measure justice. The standard you apply to others becomes the standard by which you are measured, an eschatological warning, not a prohibition.
Self-examination before correction. Verse 5 commands correction, but only after the speck-finder removes his own log first.
Discernment as Christian duty. Matthew 7:15 to 20 (false prophets by fruit), John 7:24 (righteous judgment), 1 Corinthians 5 to 6 (intra-church discipline) all require it.

Cross-references

Matthew 7.15-20, judging false prophets by their fruit.
John 7.24, "judge with righteous judgment."
Matthew 7.3, the speck-and-log image that fixes the sense of "judge."
Romans 2.1-3, Paul's parallel against the judgmental moralist who does the same things.
1 Corinthians 5.12-13, the church's duty to judge those inside.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.