Matthew 7

₁Jesus said: ‘Do not say other people are wrong and God must punish them. If you do not judge them, then God will not punish you. ₂God will judge you like you judge other people. He will do to you what you do to other people.

₃Why do you see the small piece of wood in your brother's eye, but you don't see that there is a big piece of wood in your own eye? You see the small thing that your brother has done wrong, but you don't see all the wrong things that you have done. ₄You can not say to your brother that you want to take out the small piece of wood in his eye, when you have a big piece of wood in your own eye. ₅If you do that, then you are a hypocrite. You must first take out the big piece of wood from your own eye. Then you will be able to take out the small piece of wood from your brother's eye.

₆You must not throw things that belong to God to the dogs. The dogs will come and bite you. And you must not throw your pearls in front of the pigs. The pigs will trample the pearls with their feet. In the same way you must not continue to bring God's message to people who do not want to listen to the Good_News.’

₇‘You must continue to pray. God will give you what you ask for. You must keep on looking for the right things, then God will give you what you are looking for. You must keep on knocking, then God will open that door for you. ₈Every person who keeps on praying will get what he prays for. Every person who keeps on looking for the right things will find what he is looking for. Every person who keeps on knocking must know that God will open the door for him. ₉When a boy asks his father for bread, his father will never give his son a stone. ₁₀And when a boy asks his father for a fish, his father will never give his son a snake. ₁₁You are bad people, but you know that you must give good things to your children. Your Father in heaven wants to give even better things to the people who ask Him. ₁₂You must do good things to other people, as you want them to do good things to you. This is what the laws of Moses and the books of the prophets wanted to say.’

₁₃Jesus also said: ‘You must go in through the small gate. The other gate, the gate to hell, is big and wide and it is easy to walk on that road. Many people go through that big gate. ₁₄But the gate to eternal_life is small and it is not easy to walk on this road. There are only a few people who find this road and walk on it.’

₁₅‘Look out for and beware of false_prophets. They come to you and they look like sheep, but they are not sheep. They are dangerous wolves. ₁₆When you see the fruit of a tree, you know what kind of tree it is. So when you see what people do, you will know what kind of people they are. Grapes do not grow on thorn trees and figs do not grow on weeds. ₁₇A good tree always has good fruit and a bad tree always has bad fruit. ₁₈A good tree can not have bad fruit and a bad tree can not have good fruit. ₁₉Every tree that has bad fruit will be cut down and people will throw that tree into the fire. ₂₀This is how you will know what kind of people the false_prophets are, when you see the bad things they do.’

₂₁‘It is not good enough if someone says to me: “My Lord, my Lord.” That will not help him to come to God in heaven who rules over all. People who want to come to my Father must do what He wants them to do. ₂₂On the day_of_the_Lord, many people will say to Me: “Lord, Lord, we have preached God's message and told the people about your name. We used your name to chase_demons out of people. We used your name to do many miracles.”

₂₃But I will tell them: “I never knew you. Go away from Me. You did bad and sinful things.” ’

₂₄Jesus said: ‘Every person who knows what I said, and also does as I said, is like a wise man. His house is built on a rock. ₂₅The rain came down and the rivers were full of water. The wind blew hard and it started to shake the house. But the house did not fall because the man had built his house on the rock. ₂₆But everyone who knows what I say, and does not do what I say, is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ₂₇The rain came down and the rivers became full of water. The wind blew hard and it started to shake the house and destroyed it. There was nothing left of it.’

₂₈When Jesus finished talking to the people, all of them were amazed by what He taught them, ₂₉because they knew his words came from God. Jesus did not teach them like the teachers_of_the_Laws did.