And why beholdest thou] Luke 6. 41. He speaks in the singular number, to shew the need of particular application. the mote that is in thy brothers eye] With what face canst thou tax thy brother for small faults, when thou leavest greater in thy self uncorrected? Some think it should be read, a splinter, rather then a mote, because that answers best to a beam. A man were to be blamed, who, having a great piece of wood gotten into any member, would let it alone, till he had pulled a splinter out of another mans body. Others think it to be an allusion to two diseases of the eye, one spreading over a small part, the other over the whole eye: the later had not onely need to be pulled out first in our selves, but also, if it be not, it will hinder us from seeing to pull a mote out of anothers eye, as v. 5. So our great sins, uncorrected, not onely hurt us, but also hinder us from correcting others.