Matthew 7:4 (DBY)

Passage

Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Allow [me], I will cast out the mote from thine eye; and behold, the beam is in thine eye?

Nearby Context

Matthew 7:2 for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you.

Matthew 7:3 But why lookest thou on the mote that is in the eye of thy brother, but observest not the beam that is in thine eye?

Matthew 7:4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Allow [me], I will cast out the mote from thine eye; and behold, the beam is in thine eye?

Matthew 7:5 Hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine eye, and then thou wilt see clearly to cast out the mote out of the eye of thy brother.

Matthew 7:6 Give not that which is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before the swine, lest they trample them with their feet, and turning round rend you.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "wilt", "thou", "brother", "allow", "cast", "mote", "thine", and "behold". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "wilt" and "thou", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "But why lookest thou on the mote..." into verse 5's "Hypocrite cast out first the beam out...", so "wilt" and "thou" belong inside that flow. In Matthew context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "wilt" and "thou" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.