Matthew 7:6-8

7:6 Do not give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls before pigs; otherwise they will trample them under their feet and turn around and tear you to pieces. ¹ 

Ask, Seek, Knock

7:7 “Ask ²  and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door ³  will be opened for you. 7:8 For everyone who asks ⁴  receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

[7:6]  ¹ tn Or “otherwise the latter will trample them under their feet and the former will turn around and tear you to pieces.” This verse is sometimes understood as a chiasm of the pattern a-b-b-a, in which the first and last clauses belong together (“dogs…turn around and tear you to pieces”) and the second and third clauses belong together (“pigs…trample them under their feet”).

[7:7]  ² sn The three present imperatives in this verse (Ask…seek…knock) are probably intended to call for a repeated or continual approach before God.

[7:7]  ³ tn Grk “it”; the referent (a door) is implied by the context and has been specified in the translation here and in v. 8 for clarity.

[7:8]  ³ sn The actions of asking, seeking, and knocking are repeated here from v. 7 with the encouragement that God does respond.