‘These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
Parallel Translations
-
‘These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
-
This people draweth nye vnto me with their mouthes and honoureth me with their lippes howbe it their hertes are farre from me:
-
This people draweth neere vnto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with the lips, but their heart is farre off from me.
Cross-references (8)
Passages linked to Matthew 15:8 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;
- 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.
- Acts 8:21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart isn’t right before God.
- 1 Peter 3:10 For, “He who would love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.
- Jeremiah 12:2 You have planted them. Yes, they have taken root. They grow. Yes, they produce fruit. You are near in their mouth, and far from their heart.
- Proverbs 23:26 My son, give me your heart; and let your eyes keep in my ways.
- Hebrews 3:12 Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there might be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God;
- John 1:47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said about him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their…
8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
Ver. 8. This people draweth nigh unto me, &c.] And they are no changelings, for at this day, although they know better, and can write upon the walls of their synagogues this sentence, Tephillah belo cauvannah cheguph belo neshamah, that is, Prayer without the intention of the mind, is but as a body without a soul, yet shall not a man anywhere see less intention than in their orisons. "The reverence they show" (saith Sir Edwin Sands, who saw it) "is in standing up at times, and the gesture of adoration in the bowing forward of their bodies. For kneeling they use none (no more do the Grecians), neither stir they their bonnets in their synagogues to any man, but remain still covered. They come to it with washen hands, and in it they burn lamps to the honour of God, {a} but for any show of devotion or elevation of spirit, that yet in Jews could I never discern, but they are as reverent in their synagogues as grammar boys are at school, when their master is absent. In sum, their holiness is the very outward work itself, being a brainless head and soulless body." Thus he.
Read full note →
And honoureth me with their lips] But prayer is not the labour of the lips, but the travail of the heart; the power of a petition is not in the roof of the mouth, but root of the heart. To give way to wilful distractions, is to commit spiritual whoredom in God’s presence. Is it fit to present the king with an empty cask; or to tell him a tale with our backs towards him? Behold, "I am a great King," saith God; and they that stand before him, "must look to their feet," saith Solomon, that they stand upright, and that they offer not a heartless sacrifice, for that is the "sacrifice of fools," Ecc 5:1, and ever held ominous.
But their heart is far from me] And so all they do is putrid hypocrisy. God loves "truth in the inward parts," Psa 41:6, and calls for the heart in all services, as Joseph did for Benjamin, as David did for Michal, "Thou shall not see my face, unless thou bring it." In all spiritual sacrifices we must bring him the fat and the inwards. The deeper and hollower the belly of the lute or viol is, the pleasanter is the sound; the fleeter, the more grating and harsh in our ears. The voice which is made in the mouth is nothing so sweet as that which cometh from the depth of the breast. Eph 6:6; "Do the will of God from the heart." But woe be to all careless professors, to all loose and ungirt Christians! the Lord will make all the churches to know "that he seareheth the hearts and reins," and that "he will kill with death" all such as had rather seem to be good than seek to be so, Rev 2:23.
{a} Sic ut posset quivis animo advertere quod server illam pro consuetudine potius quam pro religione reverentiam. De Theodorico, Sidonius, Epist. i. l.
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 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth,....…
This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth,.... The preface to these words, or the form in which they are introduced by the prophet; "wherefore the Lord said", is left out in this citation, being unnecessary here, though of the greatest importance there; partly to show, that what was about to be said, was not the prophet's own words, but the words of the Lord, of which the Jews in Christ's time made no doubt; and partly to give a reason why that judicial blindness, threatened in the context, should be inflicted on them, which is no part of Christ's design here; but which is only to show, that the description here given exactly agrees with them, and so proves, and confirms the character he gives of them as hypocrites. They approached the ordinances of God, and drew nigh to him, and attended him in outward worship; they prayed unto him publicly, and constantly, in the streets, in the synagogues, and temple, and with much seeming devotion and sanctity:
and honoureth me with their lips: they owned him to be their creator and preserver; they made their boast of him, and of their knowledge of him, as the one only living, and true God, and as the God of Israel; they brought their sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, even the fruit of their lips, unto him, for their many peculiar mercies, privileges, and favours, as a nation, church, and people, and with much seeming sincerity and affection.
Read full note →
But their heart is far from me; they had no true love to God, nor faith in him, nor fear of him; they were not at all concerned for his presence with them, or for communion with him, or for his honour and glory; their hearts were in the world, and after their covetousness; they made religion a tool to their secular purposes, supposing gain to be godliness; sought the applause of men, and contented themselves with bodily exercise; having no regard to internal religion, powerful godliness, or where their hearts were, so be it, their bodies were presented to God in public worship; and what they did it was to be seen and approved of men, not caring what the searcher of hearts knew concerning them, or what he required of them.
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 Their heart is far from me - And without…
Their heart is far from me - And without this all outward worship is mere mockery of God. 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 8. Their heart is far from me.] The…
Verse 8. Their heart is far from me.] The true worship of God consists in the union of the heart to him - where this exists not, a particle of the spirit of devotion cannot be found.
This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth] This clause, which is taken from Isa 29:13, is omitted by several excellent MSS., and by several versions and fathers. Erasmus, Mill, Drusius, and Bengel, approve of the omission, and Griesbach has left it out of the text; but as I find it in the prophet, the place from which it is quoted, I dare not omit it, howsoever respectable the above authorities may appear.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth,…
This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, &c.--By putting the commandments of men on a level with the divine requirements, their whole worship was rendered vain--a principle of deep moment in the service of God. "For," it is added in Mar 7:8, "laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups; and many other such like things ye do." The drivelling nature of their multitudinous observances is here pointedly exposed, in contrast with the manly observance of "the commandment of God"; and when our Lord says, "Many other such like things ye do," it is implied that He had but given a specimen of the hideous treatment which the divine law received, and the grasping disposition which, under the mask of piety, was manifested by the ecclesiastics of that day.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 8. Lips… heart — With their lips they utter…
8. Lips… heart — With their lips they utter the pious corban or consecration. With their hearts they mean to break the decalogue, and rob a parent.
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 8, 9. Isa_29:13. The quotation does not follow precisely…
8, 9. Isa_29:13. The quotation does not follow precisely either the LXX. version or the Hebrew text.
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 (8) This people draweth nigh unto me.—The quotation is…
(8) This people draweth nigh unto me.—The quotation is given substantially from the Greek version of Isaiah. We have already seen in Mat_13:14 how the Pharisees were taught to see their own likeness in the language of the prophet. Now the mirror is held up once more, and they are seen to have been anticipated in that very substitution of human for divine ordinances for which our Lord reproves them.
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 The quotation is from the Septuagint Version, with a…
The quotation is from the Septuagint Version, with a slight variation from the text at the end. The Hebrew also differs a little; but the general meaning is not affected. With their mouth. They use the prescribed forms of worship, guard with much care the letter of Scripture, observe its legal and ceremonial enactments, are strict in the practice of all outward formalities. But their heart. This is what the prophets so constantly object. Prayers, sacrifices, etc., are altogether unacceptable unless inspired by inward devotion, and accompanied by purity of heart.
Sincerity the keynote of piety.
Read full note →
Formality is always imperilling piety. The representation of religious truths in ritual and ceremonial is a necessary condescension to the weakness of men, who want material aid in their effort to grasp spiritual things. But material things have a constant tendency to enslave men. And the enslaving work is done with so much subtlety that many a man who is a slave to his rituals, and to his rules, thinks himself to be a free man today. But, worse than that, and the thing that so much distressed our Lord, when a man knows that all his spiritual religion is gone, he will keep up his ritual, and be more exact in obeying his rules, and try to persuade himself that "formality" will do instead of "spirituality." Then the searching Lord pleads, "This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
I RELIGION IS EXPRESSION. We ought to "draw nigh unto God with our mouth, and to honour him with our lip." Religion is holy worship, wise ordering of conduct, bearing honourable responsibilities, taking part in Christian activities, bringing the body into subjection. No man can wisely or safely restrain the expression of religion. A faith which says nothing is no real faith. A love that does nothing is no real love. If there is life in the seed, the blade will appear above the soil. Secret religion is self-delusion. If a man is religious, it will get expression in his life and relations.
II RELIGION IS FEELING. It is something that can get expression. It is a state of mind and heart. It is a spiritual relationship with the Divine Spirit, into which man, the spirit, has been brought. It is the quickening of the soul"s love, and setting it wholly on God. It is the redirection of the soul"s trust, and fixing it on God. It is the sanctifying of the soul"s will unto the choice of God"s will. "The kingdom of God is within you." Piety is a soul affair. Religion is the expression of piety in conduct and relation.
III SINCERITY IS THE RIGHT RELATION BETWEEN FEELING AND EXPRESSION. Sincerity Christ asked for. Insincerity Christ denounced. Sincerity psalmists prayed for and prophets pleaded for.
Weakness, incompleteness, failure, can be patiently borne; insincerity cannot be borne; nothing can be done with it. To a man"s own self he must be true. To his fellow men he must be true. To God he must be true. A man must say, by lip and act, what he feels, and only what he feels. The vice of modern external religion is its utterance of more and better things than are really in men"s hearts. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 8. This people. The Jews. Verses 8 and 9…
8. This people. The Jews. Verses 8 and 9 are the quotation from Isaiah. Their heart is far from me. The essential of true worship is that the heart be wholly given to God. Even the forms commanded by God are worthless unless they are obeyed from the heart.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.