What Does Matthew 7:1 Mean?
Judge not, that you be not judged.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Judge not, that ye be not judged.THE KEY
The judgment you direct outward becomes the measure that can turn back on you.
THE MEANING
Your judgment of another does not leave you outside its reach; the same act places you within judgment’s measure. The verse speaks of judgment as something that returns upon the one who sets it in motion.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that you can judge another while remaining untouched by the standard you apply.
THE ROOT
κρίνω
krinō
GROWS FROM
κριν
To distinguish or separate, then decide; by extension, to judge or pronounce a verdict.
“judge” in this verse is krinō. The Greek verb covers deciding and distinguishing as well as judging. The verse uses forms of this same verb for both the act directed toward another and the judgment that may meet the one who acts, making the return of the measure visible.
ALSO GROWS
krisis: judgment, decision
κρίσις
This branch names the decision or judgment that follows from the act of deciding.
kritēs: judge, one who decides
κριτής
This branch names the person who renders the judgment, placing the judge within the same word family as the act and its outcome.
THE PATTERN
The standard a person sends outward returns to measure that person.
For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with what measure you measure, it will be measured to you.For near is the day of the LORD upon all the nations. As you have done, so will it be done to you. Your repayment turns back upon your own head.Therefore you have no word to answer with, O human, whoever you are who judges others, for in whatever you judge in another you press the sentence down upon yourself, for you who judge practice the very same things.THE THREAD
Therefore you have no word to answer with, O human, whoever you are who judges others, for in whatever you judge in another you press the sentence down upon yourself, for you who judge practice the very same things.Both passages use forms of κρίνω (krinō, “to distinguish, decide, or judge”). Romans makes the return plain: the judgment directed at another also reaches the person who makes it.
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