Matthew · 29 verses
Matthew 7
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
Some people arrive before Jesus with an impressive catalogue—prophecy, exorcism, miracles—and hear the most devastatingly plain reply: “I never knew you.”
The beam and the pearlvv. 1–12
Jesus begins with judgment measured back to the judge, then produces the chapter’s finest piece of impossible eye-care: a man with a beam in his own eye offering to remove a speck from his brother’s. The holy things and the pearls then meet dogs and swine, who may trample them and turn on the donor. After that come asking, seeking, knocking, a son’s bread and fish, and the rule that gathers the Law and the Prophets into what others should receive from a person.
Fruit, wolves, and the unwelcome answervv. 13–23
The road narrows, and so does the test. False prophets appear in sheep’s clothing but carry the appetite of wolves; their fruit gives them away, since thornbushes remain disappointingly poor at producing grapes. Then come the people who call Jesus “Lord, Lord” and present their credentials—prophecy, demons driven out, miracles performed in his name—only to be dismissed as workers of lawlessness. It is a remarkably severe interview, with the answer arriving after the résumé.
Two houses and the astonished crowdvv. 24–29
Jesus ends with two builders. One hears his words and acts on them, placing a house on rock; rain, torrents, and wind make a thorough attempt to object, but the house remains. The other builds on sand, and the same weather produces a collapse of considerable grandeur. When Jesus finishes, the crowds are astonished because he teaches with authority rather than as their scribes.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Matt 7:1“Do not judge, or you will be judged.
Matt 7:2For with the same judgment you pronounce, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Matt 7:3Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but fail to notice the beam in your own eye?
Matt 7:4How 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?
Matt 7:5You 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.
Matt 7:6Do 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.
Matt 7:7Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.
Matt 7:8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Matt 7:9Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
Matt 7:10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?
Matt 7:11So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
Matt 7:12In everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the essence of the Law and the Prophets.
Matt 7:13Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
Matt 7:14But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Matt 7:15Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
Matt 7:16By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Matt 7:17Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
Matt 7:18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.
Matt 7:19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Matt 7:20So then, by their fruit you will recognize them.
Matt 7:21Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Matt 7:22Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’
Matt 7:23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’
Matt 7:24Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
Matt 7:25The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock.
Matt 7:26But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
Matt 7:27The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its collapse!”
Matt 7:28When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astonished at His teaching,
Matt 7:29because He taught as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
01 — Also here
Who else the chapter reaches
Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.
Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 462 passages were voted onto 27 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 7Matthew 21:22If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
- 71 John 3:22and we will receive from Him whatever we ask, because we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight.
- 7John 15:7If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
- 7Mark 11:24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
- 7Psalms 145:18–19The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call out to Him in truth.
- 21Romans 2:13For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but it is the doers of the law who will be declared righteous.
- 13Luke 13:24–25“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able.
- 13Proverbs 16:25There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
- 7Jeremiah 33:3Call to Me, and I will answer and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know.
- 21Luke 6:46Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ but do not do what I say?
- 7Matthew 7:8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
- 21James 1:22Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves.
- 24Luke 6:47–49I will show you what he is like who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them:
- 1Luke 6:37Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
- 13John 14:6Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
- 12Luke 6:31Do to others as you would have them do to you.
Onward