He answered them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
Parallel Translations
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He answered them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
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He answered and sayde vnto them: well prophesied Esaias of you ypocrites as it is writte: This people honoreth me with their lyppes but their hert is farre from me:
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Then hee answered and sayd vnto them, Surely Esay hath prophecied well of you, hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth mee with lippes, but their heart is farre away from me.
Cross-references (14)
Passages linked to Mark 7:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 29:13 The Lord said, “Because this people draws near with their mouth and honors me with their lips, but they have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught;
- Titus 1:16 They profess that they know God, but by their deeds they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work.
- Matthew 15:7-9 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, ‘These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. And in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrine rules made by men.’ ”
- Ezekiel 33:31 They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but don’t do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain.
- 2 Timothy 3:5 holding a form of godliness, but having denied its power. Turn away from these, also.
- Matthew 23:13-15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men; for you don’t enter in yourselves, neither do you allow those who are entering in to enter. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel around by sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves.
- James 2:14-17 What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him? And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food, and one of you tells them, “Go in peace. Be warmed and filled;” yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.
- John 5:42 But I know you, that you don’t have God’s love in yourselves.
- Luke 11:39-44 The Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness. You foolish ones, didn’t he who made the outside make the inside also? But give for gifts to the needy those things which are within, and behold, all things will be clean to you. But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you bypass justice and God’s love. You ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues, and the greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like hidden graves, and the men who walk over them don’t know it.”
- John 15:24 If I hadn’t done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn’t have had sin. But now they have seen and also hated both me and my Father.
- John 8:54-55 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say that he is our God. You have not known him, but I know him. If I said, ‘I don’t know him,’ I would be like you, a liar. But I know him and keep his word.
- Hosea 8:2-3 They cry to me, ‘My God, we Israel acknowledge you!’ Israel has cast off that which is good. The enemy will pursue him.
- Acts 28:25 When they didn’t agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had spoken one word, “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers,
- John 8:41-42 You do the works of your father.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, God.” Therefore Jesus said to them, “If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. For I haven’t come of myself, but he sent me.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Hypocrisy is always joined with superstition.
Hypocrisy is always joined with superstition.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath…
6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
Ver. 6. {See Trapp on "Mat 15:2"} {See Trapp on "Mat 15:3"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain He answered and said unto them,.... Matthew postpones the…
He answered and said unto them,.... Matthew postpones the following citation and application of the prophecy of Isaiah, to the account of the command of God being broken by the tradition of Corban; which Mark makes the answer of Christ to begin with:
well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites; which in Matthew is read, "ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you", Mat 15:7; to the same sense as here: for the prophecy of Isaiah not only described the hypocrites of his time, but had respect chiefly to the Jews in succeeding ages, in the times of Christ, and both before and after; when they would, as they did, greatly degenerate, and lost the power and spirituality of religion, and had only the form of it; left the word of God for the traditions of men, and were given up to great stupidity, and to judicial blindness: hence the Apostle Paul refers to a passage in the same chapter, Isa 29:10, and applies it to the Jews in his time, Rom 11:8; See Gill on Mat 15:7, saying,
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as it is written in Isa 29:13,
this people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In the Prophet Isaiah more is said than is here cited; and so in Matthew more is produced, and the whole is there expressed thus: "this people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me", Mat 15:8, they presented their bodies before the Lord in the synagogues, or in the temple, and prayed to him with an air of devotion and fervency, and offered up their praises to him, for their external privileges and blessings; but, alas! this was all lip labour; there was no lifting up their hearts, with their hands, unto God; these were not united to fear his name, but were distracted in his worship, and carried away from him to other objects; See Gill on Mat 15:8.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Isaiah xxix, 13.
Isaiah xxix, 13.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 6. Honoureth me] με τιμα - but the…
Verse 6. Honoureth me] με τιμα - but the Codex Bezae, and three copies of the Itala, have με αγαπα, loveth me: - the AEthiopic has both readings.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 6. Esaias prophesied — Matthew (Mat_15:6-8) gives these words…
6. Esaias prophesied — Matthew (Mat_15:6-8) gives these words in a different and more appropriate order. The quotation from the prophet naturally follows as a confirmation of the description which our Lord himself gives to the Pharisees to their face. It may be added that Mark shows himself not the mere copyist of Matthew, from the fact that he does not here, as sometimes, simply add some heightening expressions; but he adds words spoken by Jesus, and with all the divine style of the Great Teacher, which are given by no other evangelist.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. Well hath Esaias] Rather, Well, or full well…
6. Well hath Esaias] Rather, Well, or full well did Esaias prophesy of you. “Well” is said in irony. This expression recurs in Mar_7:9, “full well ye reject” = “finely do ye set at naught and obliterate.”
This people honoureth me] The words are found in Isa_29:13.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (6) Well hath Esaias prophesied.—Strictly, well did Esaias prophesy.
(6) Well hath Esaias prophesied.—Strictly, well did Esaias prophesy.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 6, 7. Our Lord quotes against them a…
Vers. 6, 7. Our Lord quotes against them a prophecy of Isaiah, (Isa_29:13) This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men. The prophet here gives the cause of the blindness of the Jews, because they honored God with their lips, while their heart was far from him; and their worship of him (for that is the meaning of "their fear") was the commandment of men, which they had been taught; that is, they worshipped God, not according to that spiritual worship which he had commanded, but after the traditions of men and of their own scribes, partly futile, partly perverse, and contrary to God"s Law. So he says, Well did Isaiah prophesy of you. The word is kalwv , "excellently beautifully did he prophesy concerning you (twn upokritwn), the hypocrites." Not that the prophet had the hypocrites of our Saviour"s time in his mind when he uttered these words, but that the Spirit of God which was within him enabled him to describe accurately the character of those who seven centuries afterwards would be doing the same things as their forefathers. And observe how they were punished. For as they gave a lip-service only to God, praising him with their mouth indeed, but giving their heart to vanity and the world; so God on his part would give them the words only the shell, so to speak, the letter which killeth; but take away from them the kernel the spirit and the life, so that they might not lay hold of it nor taste it.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Lord’s answer:
The Lord’s answer:
v. 6. He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.
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v. 7. Howbeit in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
v. 8. For laying aside the commandments of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups; and many other such like things ye do.
In cases of weakness and lack of understanding the Lord was always willing to employ a great deal of patience, but in the case of the Pharisees, where utter hardness of heart was united with supercilious haughtiness and unwillingness to be taught, Jesus used the weapons of invective and sarcasm, and sometimes of bitter denunciation. He applies a double prophecy of Isaiah to them. With their lips they honored the Lord, endless prayers with babbling repetition were their strong suit, but their heart was altogether away, at a great distance from Him. They were proud of their outward observance of the precepts of both the Law and of the tradition of the elders, believing that this was true service of God. But vain is such worship, the Lord informs them, since they teach and insist upon the doctrines of men. In accordance with this prophecy, Jesus fitly calls them hypocrites, actors of a kind, that go through the routine of their part, say their prayers, and make the appropriate gestures by rote, but who seldom or never can reach the spontaneous expression of one that speaks and acts out of the fullness of his heart. Like them, all people that place the commandments of men on the same level with God’s holy Law and for the sake of their precepts change and even set aside the eternal Word of God, are hypocrites, whose heart is far from God, who do not give the Lord their heart, for otherwise they would have the proper relevance for the same. The rebuke of Jesus exactly strikes the sore spot: they put aside the command of God and cling to the tradition of men.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Here Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah, who had written scripture many years earlier.
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with their lips
Here "lips" is a metonym for speaking. AT: "by what they say" (See: Metonymy)
but their heart is far from me
Here "heart" refers to a person's thoughts or emotions. This is a way of saying the people are not truly devoted to God. AT: "but they do not really love me" (See: Metonymy and Idiom)
Empty worship they offer me
"They offer me useless worship" or "They worship me in vain"
translationWords
Isaiah
prophet
hypocrite
honor
worship
doctrine
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 7:6-8 Jesus first responds by quoting Isa 29:13 (Greek…
7:6-8 Jesus first responds by quoting Isa 29:13 (Greek version), which deals with the farce of equating man-made ideas with God’s commands. It describes well the situation in which the Pharisees had substituted their human tradition for God’s law.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.