In Matthew 7:1-2, the verb “to judge” is the Greek verb kríno, which means to distinguish, make a choice or a decision; to pick and choose. The word originally meant “to separate,” as in separating grain from chaff.
In Matthew 7:3, the word “hypocrite” is derived from two Greek words: hypó, “under” and that verb kríno, “to judge,” that we saw in v. 1-2. The word literally means, then, “one who judges under,” that is, under a mask: “hypocrite” is what an actor was called in ancient theater, where every actor performed wearing a mask according to the role he was playing. The word later came to be used to talk about anyone who “judges under”—that is to say, anyone who says what he says and does what he does while pretending to be what he is not.
Another link lost in translation is that between the exhortation to enter by way of the narrow gate in 7:13-14 and the warning against the false prophets in 7:15. The word “enter” is the Greek eisérchomai, from the two words eis, “in,” and érchomai, “to come”—the same verb in the phrase “false prophets who come” in v. 15.
The daisy-chain of sayings in Matthew 7, then, links up as follows:
1-2 Judge (kríno) not...
3-5 ...hypocrite, (hypokrités) first cast...
6 Give...neither cast...
7-11 …man, ...give...
12-14 …men... the prophets... Enter (= Come in)...
15 ...false prophets who come...
16 Ye shall know them...
17-20 ...fruit...by their fruits...know...
21-23 ...I never knew you...
Outro: Saying
24-27 ...these sayings...
28 ...these sayings...