Matthew 7:6
What does Matthew 7:6 mean?
“Don’t give that which is holy to the dogs, neither throw your pearls before the pigs, lest perhaps they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
The short answer
Matthew 7:6 sounds jarring at first. Jesus has just said "Don't judge" (7:1), and now he tells his followers not to give "that which is holy" to dogs or throw "pearls before the pigs." Is he contradicting himself? Not at all — this verse is the deliberate counterweight to the command against judging. Jesus forbids a fault-finding spirit, but he never forbids discernment. In fact, this verse requires it: you cannot avoid casting pearls before pigs without first recognizing who is unwilling to receive them.
The imagery is vivid and practical. Dogs and pigs in the ancient world were not pets but scavengers — unclean animals with no capacity to value what is sacred or precious. Hand a pearl to a pig and it will not admire it; it will trample it into the mud and, frustrated that it isn't food, may "turn and tear you to pieces." The point is not that some people are worthless, but that some hearts, at some moments, are closed. Pressing holy truth on someone determined to mock it wastes the gift and often provokes hostility.
This is the sober realism of the wisdom tradition. Proverbs 9:7-8 warns that correcting a mocker earns you abuse, while correcting a wise person earns you love — the mocker's arrogance turns instruction into an attack on his pride, and he lashes back. Jesus draws on that same insight: discernment about your audience is not contempt; it is wisdom.
Read this way, Matthew 7:6 completes the teaching that began in 7:1. Don't set yourself up as everyone's critic — that judgment will rebound on you. But don't abandon judgment altogether, either. The same Jesus who says "Don't judge" also tells his followers to test prophets by their fruits (7:15-20). Humility and discernment belong together.
What scholars say
How can Jesus say "Don't judge" and then demand the discernment of verse 6? R. T. France explains that what Jesus forbids is a fault-finding mentality that rebounds on the critic, not the proper discrimination this verse — and passages like 7:15-20 and 18:15-17 — requires; Bruce Waltke, commenting on Proverbs, shows the wisdom backdrop, where correcting a mocker wastes effort and can arouse his hatred and verbal attack.
“Verse 6, as we shall see, appears to call for a proper discrimination which must be based on some "judgment" as to who are and are not fit recipients for "sacred things" and "pearls;" cf. the call to judge people by their fruits in vv. 15–20, and the requirement to draw a fellow-disciple's sin to their own and if necessary other people's attention in 18:15–17. But what is forbidden here is the sort of fault-finding mentality and speech which is likely to rebound against the one who exercises it (cf. Jas 2:13; 4:11–12; 5:9). The reciprocal principle is stated both directly with regard to judgment and indirectly using the metaphor of measuring out commodities in the market. In both cases you must expect the same standards of measurement to be applied to both parties (Rom 12:1 makes a closely similar point).”
“This opprobrium comes either from imprudently wasting time and energy on a futile cause (cf. 14:6; 15:12; 21:24; Matt. 7:6) or, more probably, to judge from v. 8, from the mocker himself, who, because his hatred has been aroused, verbally attacks and publicly humiliates the wise (22:10). Because of their differing psyches, the arrogance of the wicked and the humility of the righteous, correction repulses the former and awakens in the latter the yearning to be with a superior who improves him (see 15:31; 18:15). Although the wise and foolish are normally represented in Proverbs as static, antithetical opposites, the purpose clause, so that he may become wiser still (weyeḥkam-ʿôd), underscores that the wise person is a growing, maturing individual and not without defects (see 1:5; 4:18).”
What it means for you
This verse invites honest reflection on both sides of a conversation. When you share something precious — your faith, hard-won wisdom, a difficult truth — ask whether the person in front of you is open to receiving it. Persistence with a mocker rarely persuades; it usually hardens them and wounds you. Sometimes the wisest and most loving act is to wait for a more receptive moment.
At the same time, hold this alongside the warning against judging. Discernment is not writing people off; it is refusing to force what is holy on someone determined to trample it. Guard your pearls without hardening your heart.
Matthew 7 in context
Matthew 7 sits at the close of the Sermon on the Mount. It opens with the famous command "Don't judge" (7:1-5), including the image of the speck and the beam. Verse 6 immediately follows as a balancing word: humility about judging others does not mean abandoning discernment. The chapter then moves to confident prayer (7:7-11), the Golden Rule (7:12), the narrow gate (7:13-14), and a warning to test prophets "by their fruits" (7:15-20) — a task that requires exactly the kind of discernment verse 6 assumes.