Matthew 7:2

2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

Ver. 2. For with what judgment ye judge, &c.] Our Saviour sets forth what he had said before by these two proverbial sentences, as well known among them as those among us: "Ye shall sow as ye reap, drink as ye brew, be served with the same sauce," &c. {a} Compare herewith those divine proverbs, Isa 33:1; Pro 12:14; Pro 13:2; Pro 13:21; Pro 14:14; Pro 14:22; Pro 22:8; Job 6:8; Mar 6:24. God delights to give men their own, as good as they brought, to pay them home in their own coin, or, as the text here and the Hebrew proverb hath it, to remit to them in their own measure, {b} Isa 3:10-11; with the merciful to show himself merciful, and with the froward to wrestle. He will be as froward as they for the hearts of them, beat them with their own weapons, overshoot them in their own bows, shape their estates according to their own patterns, and cause others to write after their copies, as it fared with Pharaoh, Adonibezek, Agag, &c. Sodom sinned in fulness of bread, and it is expressly noted that their victuals were taken from them by the four kings, Gen 14:11. Their eyes were full of uncleanness, and they were smitten with blindness; they burned with lust, and were burned with fire; they sinned against nature, and against the course of nature, fire descends and consumes them. Eglon, stabbed into the guts, finds his bane the same way with his sin. Sisera annoys God’s people with his iron chariots, and is slain by a nail of iron. Jezebel’s brains, that devised mischief against the innocent, are strewed upon the stones; by a letter to Jezreel she shed the blood of Naboth, and by a letter from Jezreel the blood of her sons is shed. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Solomen’s temple (that seven years’ work of so many thousands), therefore let him be turned a grazing, and seven seasons pass over him, saith the oracle, Dan 4:16. The blasphemers in the Revelation "gnaw their tongues" through pain, and Dives (for like cause) was tormented in that part chiefly. {c} Apion scoffing at religion, and especially at circumcision, had an ulcer at the same time and in the same place. Phocas, a wild, drunken, bloody, adulterous tyrant, was worthily slaughtered by Heraclius, who cut off his hands and feet, and then his genitals by piecemeal. The Donatists, that cast the holy elements in the Lord’s supper to dogs, were themselves afterward devoured of dogs. John Martin of Briqueras, a mile from Angrogne, vaunted everywhere that he would slit the minister’s nose of Angrogne, but was himself assaulted by a wolf, which bit off his nose, whereof he died mad. Sir Ralph Elerker, Knight Marshal of Calais, in Queen Mary’s reign, being present at the death of Adam Damlip, martyr, bid the executioner despatch, saying that he would not away till he saw the traitor’s heart out. Shortly after this Sir Ralph was slain, among others, in a skirmish at Bullein, and his heart cut out of his body by the enemies, -a terrible example to all merciless and bloody men, &c.; for no cause was known why they should use such indignation against him more than the rest, but that it is written, "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." Bishop Ridley told Stephen Winchester that it was the hand of God that he was now in prison, because he had so troubled others in his time. And as he had inflamed so many good martyrs, so he died miserably of an inflammation, that caused him to thrust out his tongue all swollen and black, as Archbishop Arundel had died before him. The Archbishop of Tours made suit for the erection of a court, called Chambre Ardent, wherein to condenm the Protestants to the fire. He was afterwards stricken with a disease called "the fire of God," which began at his feet, and so ascended upward, that he caused one member after another to be cut off, and so died miserably. And there is mention made of one Christopher, an unmerciful courtier, who suffering a poor lazar {d} to die in a ditch by him, did afterwards perish himself in a ditch. To return to the present purpose: Laurentius Valla censured all that wrote before him; Erasmus comes after, and censures him as much; Beza finds as many faults with Erasmus, and not without cause, as appeareth by that one passage among many in his annotations on Rom 7:21; "I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me;" Erasmus Originem secutus, scripsit Paulum hoc Sermone balbutire, quum ipse potius ineptiat. Scaliger the hypercritic gives this absurd and unmannerly censure: Gothi belluae, Scoti non minus. Angli perfidi, inflati, feri, contemptores, stolidi, amentes, inertes, inhospitales, immanes. The Goths are beasts, so are the Scots. Englishmen are perfidious, proud, fierce, foolish, mad men, slow bellies, inhospitable, barbarous. Another comes after him, and saith, His bolt, you see, is soon shot, and so you may happily guess at the quality of the archer. Tacitus speaks reproachfully of both Jews and Christians; and is paid his own as well, both by Tertullian and Lipsius. {e} If men suffer in their good names, they may thank themselves, mostly. Contempt is a thing that man’s nature is most impatient of. Those that are given to slight and censure others, are punished with the common hatred of all. Imitation and retaliation are in all men naturally, as we may see in every child. And that of Solomon is in this sense found most rule, "As in water face answereth to face; so doth the heart of a man to a man." None are so shunned and censured as those that are most censorious. The places they live in groan for a vomit to spew them out.

{a} κριματος μετρον, Mat 7:2, est rigor iuris moderationi et mitigationi oppositus. Aret.

{b} See also Rev 13:10; Rev 18:6; Middah cenegedh middah. Psa 18:26.

{c} Quia lingua plus peccaverat.

{d} A poor and diseased person, usually one afflicted with a loathsome disease; esp. a leper. ŒD

{e} Taciturn Lipsius immemorem, secumque pugnantem; Tertullianus mendaciorum loquacissimum appellat.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 7:2. Ἐν ᾧ μέτρῳ, with what measure) The principle of the lex talionis.[301]

[301] So it is not hard to judge, what retribution hereafter each one is likely to have.—V. g.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_7:2. Ἐν] Instrumental repetition of the same thought: Sota, ed. Wagenseil, p. 52. Comp. Schoettgen, p. 78. The second ἐν is also instrumental, by means of, and μέτρον is to be understood as a measure of capacity (Luk_6:38).

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 7:2 . ἐν ᾧ γὰρ , etc.: Vulgatissimum hoc apud Judaeos adagium, says Lightfoot (Hor. Heb.). Of course; one would expect such maxims, based on experience, to be current among all peoples ( vide Grotius for examples). It is the lex talionis in a new form: character for character . Jesus may have learned some of these moral adages at school in Nazareth, as we have all when boys learned many good things out of our lesson books with their collections of extracts. The point to notice is what the mind of Jesus assimilated the best in the wisdom of His people and the emphasis with which He inculcated the best, so as to ensure for it permanent lodgment in the minds of His disciples and in their records of His teaching.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For with what judgments ye Judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete--whatever standard of judgment ye apply to others.

it shall be measured to you again--This proverbial maxim is used by our Lord in other connections--as in Mar 4:24, and with a slightly different application in Luk 6:38 --as a great principle in the divine administration. Unkind judgment of others will be judicially returned upon ourselves, in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. But, as in many other cases under the divine administration, such harsh judgment gets self-punished even here. For people shrink from contact with those who systematically deal out harsh judgment upon others--naturally concluding that they themselves may be the next victims--and feel impelled in self-defense, when exposed to it, to roll back upon the assailant his own censures.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 2. For with what judgment] He who is severe on others will naturally excite their severity against himself. The censures and calumnies which we have suffered are probably the just reward of those which we have dealt out to others.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(2) With what judgment ye judge. . . .—Here again truth takes the form of a seeming paradox. The unjust judgment of man does not bring upon us a divine judgment which is also unjust; but the severity which we have unjustly meted out to others, becomes, by a retributive law, the measure of that which is justly dealt out to us.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2. judgment] The same Greek word is used Rom_2:2-3 of the divine sentence or decision: see that passage and context which are closely parallel to these verses: cp. also Mar_12:40, where the same word is translated “damnation.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged,.... Both by God and men; to which agree those proverbial sentences used by the Jews;

"He that judgeth his neighbour according to the balance of righteousness, or innocence, they judge him according to righteousness.''

(w) And a little after,

"As ye have judged me according to the balance of righteousness, God will judge you according to the balance of righteousness.''

Hence that advice of Joshua ben Perachiah (x), who, by the Jewish writers, is said to be the master of Christ;

"Judge every man according to the balance of righteousness.''

Which their commentators explain thus (y); when you see a man as it were in "equilibrio", inclining to neither part, it is not clear from what he does, that he is either good or evil, righteous or unrighteous; yet when you see him do a thing which may be interpreted either to a good or a bad sense, it ought always to be interpreted to the best.

And with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again. This was an usual proverb among the Jews; it is sometimes delivered out thus, , "measure against measure" (z); but oftener thus, and nearer the form of it here, , "with what measure a man measures, they measure to him": one might fill up almost a page, in referring to places, where it is used in this form: besides those in the (a) margin, take the following, and the rather, because it gives instances of this retaliation (b):

""With what measure a man measures, they measure to him"; so the woman suspected of adultery, she adorned herself to commit sin, and God dishonoured her; she exposed herself to iniquity, God therefore stripped her naked; the same part of her body in which her sin begun, her punishment did. Samson walked after his eyes, and therefore the Philistines plucked out his eyes. Absalom was lifted up in his mind, with his hair, and therefore he was hanged by it; and because he lay with his father's ten concubines, they therefore pierced him with ten lances; and because he stole away three hearts, the heart of his father, the heart of the sanhedrim, and the heart of Israel, therefore he was thrust with three darts: and so it is with respect to good things; Miriam waited for Moses one hour, therefore the Israelites waited for her seven days in the wilderness; Joseph, who was greater than his brethren, buried his father; and Moses, who was the greatest among the Israelites took care of the bones of Joseph, and God himself buried Moses.''

(w) T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 127. 2. (x) Pirke Abot, c. 1. sect. 6. (y) Maimon. & Bartenora in ib. (z) Bereshit Rabba, sect. 9. fol. 7. 4. (a) T. Bab. Megilla, fol. 12. 2. Sota, fol. 8. 2. Sanhedrim, fol. 100. 1. Zohar in Gen. fol. 87. 4. & in Lev. fol. 36. 1. & 39. 3. & in Num. fol. 67. 3. Bemidbar Rabba, fol. 194. 1. Misn. Beracot, c. 9. sect. 5. (b) Misn. Sota, c. 1. sect. 7, 8, 9. Vid. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 99. 1, 2.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

With what judgment ... - This was a proverb among the Jews. It expressed a truth; and Christ did not hesitate to adopt it as conveying his own sentiments. It refers no less to the way in which people will judge of us, than to the rule by which God will judge us. See 2Sa 22:27; Mar 4:24; Jam 2:13.

Mete - Measure. You shall be judged by the same rule which you apply to others.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

This rule, which God will infallibly follow, should put a check to the freedom with which we so frequently condemn our neighbour. (Haydock) --- As we behave towards our neighbours, interpreting their actions with charitableness, and excusing their intentions with mildness; or, on the contrary, judging them with severity, and condemning them without pity; so shall we receive our judgment. (Menochius) --- As the pardon of our sins is proportioned to the pardon we afford to others, so also will our judgment be proportioned to the judgment we pass on others. If our neighbour be surprised by sin, we must not reproach or confound him for it, but mildly admonish him. Correct your brother, not as an enemy, taking revenge, but as a physician, administering appropriate remedies, assisting him with prudent counsels, and strengthening him in the love of God. (St. John Chrysostom, hom. xxiii.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

2. Ye shall be judged — We must take care that our judgments will stand this test, and all is right. With what measure ye mete — Our Lord here states the divine penalty for this unholy judging. It is the divine retribution symbolically stated in the terms of the law of retaliation, like for like. The unjust judge shall be paid off in unjust judgment. To the froward God will prove himself froward. Psa_18:26. The sentiment literally is, The wicked estimator shall be judged according to his evil action.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Parallels to the second clause in Luk_6:38 and Mar_4:24, For. Explanatory of" that ye be not judged." The principle of your own judgment will be applied in turn to yourselves. With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. The judgment (krima) is the verdict; the measure is the severity or otherwise of the verdict. In both clauses (cf. ver. 1, note) the passives refer to judgment by God, as is even more clear in Mar_4:24. The saying, "with what measure," etc., is found in Mishua, "Sotah," 1:7 ("With the measure with which a man measures do they measure to him"), where it is applied to the jus talionis in the case of a woman suspected of adultery. (Num_5:11-31) Again. Omitted by the Revised Version, with the manuscripts. It was naturally inserted by the copyists, either as an unconscious deduction or from the parallel passage in Luke; but it is absent in the characteristically Jewish form of the saying found in the Mishna.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you - Awful words! So we may, as it were, choose for ourselves, whether God shall be severe or merciful to us. God and man will favour the candid and benevolent: but they must expect judgment without mercy, who have showed no mercy.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

2. With what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged. Not by men, but by God. He takes note of the unkind, harsh, censorious spirit, and deals with the man according to his own spirit. There is declared here a great principle that runs through the moral government of God: Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

2. μετρηθήσεται for ἀντιμετρηθήσεται taken from parallel passage Luk 6:38. In Mat 7:28 again the simple verb is preferred on good authority to the compound συνετέλεσεν.

2. κρίμα, ‘judgment’ either (1) in the sense of a judicial sentence as Rom 2:2, τὸ κρίμα τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστὶν κατὰ ἀλήθειαν, or (2) a rule or principle of judging, apparently the meaning here. The notion of ‘censure’ or ‘condemnation’ passes into the word from the context as: οὗτοι λήμψονται περισσότερον κρίμα. Mar 12:40. The word is somewhat rare in the classics. In Æsch. Supp. 397 it means ‘the question in dispute,’ οὐκ εὔκριτον τὸ κρῖμα. For the accent see Winer’s Grammar, 57:2 and note 2. Penultimates long in Attic were sometimes shortened in later Greek, as θλίψις, ch. Mat 24:9.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2.] ἐν, not instrumental, but of the sphere in which the act takes place, i.e. in this case, the measure, according to which: as in ref. 2 Cor., ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἑαυτοὺς μετροῦντες.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.