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.
Parallel translations
- WEB 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.
- BSB Jesus answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.
- NKJV He answered and said to 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.
- NASB But He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me.
- NLT Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus called them hypocrites and applied Isaiah's words: they honor God with their lips while their hearts are far from Him. It exposes empty, external religion.
Overview
Quoting Isaiah 29:13, Jesus diagnosed the leaders' core problem as hearts distant from God despite outward devotion. Hypocrisy is religion of the lips without the heart. This indictment cuts to the essence of true worship, which God seeks in spirit and truth (John 4:24), and exposes the danger of mere formalism.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Isa 29:13Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
- Titus 1:16They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
- Matt 15:7–9Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
- Ezek 33:31And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.
- 2 Tim 3:5Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
- Matt 23:13–15But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
- Jas 2:14–17What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
- John 5:42But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.
- Luke 11:39–44And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.
- John 15:24If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
- John 8:54–55Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God:
- Acts 28:25And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers,
- Hos 8:2–3Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee.
- John 8:41–42Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.
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Christ at the center
Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
How Mark 7:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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