John 7:24

24 Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”

John 7:24 in Other Translations

KJV
24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
ESV
24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment."
NLT
24 Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.”
MSG
24 Don't be nitpickers; use your head - and heart! - to discern what is right, to test what is authentically right."
CSB
24 Stop judging according to outward appearances; rather judge according to righteous judgment."

John 7:24 Meaning and Commentary

John 7:24

Judge not according to the appearance
Or through respect of persons, and so as to please men, the Scribes and Pharisees; who had condemned the action of Christ, in curing the diseased man on the sabbath day, and sought to kill him for it:

but judge righteous judgment;
give your sense and judgment of things, according to the truth and evidence of them; and do not find fault with that, which you yourselves allow of, and which Moses and his law, and your own practices, justify.

John 7:24 In-Context

22 Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath.
23 Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing a man’s whole body on the Sabbath?
24 Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”
25 At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?
26 Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Messiah?

Cross References 1

  • 1. 1 Samuel 16:7; Isaiah 11:3,4; John 8:15; 2 Corinthians 10:7
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