What Does Matthew 7:3 Mean in the King James?

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 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

Seeing another person’s flaw does not prove your own sight is clear; the same attention can miss what blocks your view of yourself.

THE MEANING

You notice a small obstruction in someone close to you while a far larger one occupies your own field of vision. Attention can be precise outwardly and absent inwardly at the same time.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that spotting another person’s flaw proves you see clearly. A sharp judgment can coexist with blindness to what distorts your own perception.

THE ROOT

κατανοεῖς

katanoeis

GROWS FROM

νοέω

noeō

Perceive or understand with the mind.

“considerest” in this verse is katanoeis. The Greek ⁨κατανοεῖς⁩ (katanoeis, “you perceive or consider”) names an act of noticing and understanding. The line pairs your eye’s quick detection of a small flaw in another with your failure to perceive the larger obstruction in yourself.

ALSO GROWS

noēma: thought, purpose

νόημα

This word for what is thought or perceived shows the mental side of the noticing that the verse says is missing.

noēsis: understanding, perception

νόησις

This related word makes clear that the issue is not just what falls within sight, but what you recognize.

βλέπεις

blepeis

GROWS FROM

βλέπω

blepō

See, look, perceive.

“beholdest” in this verse is blepeis. The Greek ⁨βλέπεις⁩ (blepeis, “you see or look”) is the outward seeing directed at the mote. The same verb appears in John 9:41 in the claim “we see,” where confidence in sight stands beside a blindness the speakers do not recognize.

ALSO GROWS

apoblepō: look toward, regard

ἀποβλέπω

This compound uses the same seeing word for directed attention, showing how sight can be aimed toward a particular object.

emblepō: look at attentively

ἐμβλέπω

This compound carries the same seeing word into a fixed gaze, sharpening the contrast between attention to another and perception of oneself.

THE PATTERN

Outward scrutiny can coexist with an unperceived distortion in the one doing the judging.

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

Luke 6:41 · KJVLuke repeats the image and makes self-perception the counterpart to seeing the speck in another.

Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.

Romans 2:1 · KJVJudging another while doing the same things makes the judgment return upon the judge.

Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.

Psalm 19:12 · KJVThe question recognizes that errors can remain outside the understanding of the person who carries them.

THE THREAD

Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

John 9:41 · KJV

John 9:41 uses the same verb ⁨βλέπω⁩ (blepō, “see”) in the claim “we see.” In both verses, confidence in outward sight stands beside a blindness the speaker does not recognize.

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