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.
This verse is the second half of a two-verse teaching by Jesus, part of what is known as the Sermon on the Plain — a public address recorded in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus uses an exaggerated, almost comedic image: a massive wooden plank lodged in one person's eye while they attempt delicate surgery on someone else's. The word "hypocrite" in the original Greek referred to a stage actor wearing a mask, someone performing a role rather than being genuine. Crucially, Jesus does not say you should never address a fault in someone else — he ends by saying that after dealing honestly with your own blindness, you will see clearly enough to help. The point is sequence and honesty, not permanent non-engagement.
Jesus, I am quicker to spot what is wrong with others than to look honestly at myself — and I know it. Give me the courage to ask the uncomfortable questions before I go pointing at someone else. Make me the kind of person who helps from a place of honesty, not self-righteous distance. Amen.
There is a reason this image has lasted two thousand years — it is absurd enough to make you laugh until you realize it is describing you. Jesus does not say the speck in your brother's eye is imaginary. It might be very real. But he asks: how are you going to perform eye surgery while you have lumber in yours? The hypocrite here is not someone who does not care about truth. They care enormously — just selectively. They are razor-sharp about everyone else's failures and remarkably unbothered by their own. If you have ever spent a long drive mentally cataloguing a friend's flaws while your own matching blind spots stayed conveniently off the agenda, you know exactly what he is talking about. The invitation here is not to stop caring about truth or to go silent with the people you love. It is to get honest first — not performatively humble, not endlessly self-critical, but genuinely willing to ask: what is mine in this? That question, taken seriously, changes everything about how you show up. You move from prosecutor to fellow patient. And paradoxically, that is when you actually become useful — because you are no longer performing concern from a safe distance. You are coming from a place of hard-won understanding. Getting the plank out is what gives you hands free to help.
What do you think Jesus means by "seeing clearly" — and what kind of honest self-examination does that actually require?
Think of a current frustration with someone in your life. What might be your own "plank" in that situation that you have been reluctant to examine?
Is there a meaningful difference between the hypocrisy Jesus describes and healthy, honest accountability between people who trust each other? Where does one end and the other begin?
How does approaching someone about their faults after genuine self-reflection change the quality — and the reception — of that conversation?
Who is one person you have been quietly trying to fix or correct? What would it look like to turn that energy toward honest self-examination first?
Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?
Romans 2:21
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 7:3
Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Matthew 6:2
Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
1 Peter 2:1
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
Matthew 7:5
That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.
1 Thessalonians 2:12
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
Matthew 23:15
But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
Matthew 23:13
How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, allow me to take out the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite (play actor, pretender), first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye.
AMP
How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye.
ESV
'Or how can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye.
NASB
How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
NIV
Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye.
NKJV
How can you think of saying, ‘Friend, let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.
NLT
Do you have the nerve to say, 'Let me wash your face for you,' when your own face is distorted by contempt? It's this I-know-better-than-you mentality again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your own part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.
MSG