Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
Parallel translations
- WEB You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,
- BSB You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you:
- NKJV Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:
- NASB You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you, by saying:
- NLT You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,
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 calls the religious leaders hypocrites and says Isaiah prophesied accurately about them. It matters because it names the gap between their outward show and their inward reality.
Overview
A hypocrite, in the original sense, is an actor playing a part. Jesus charges that the Pharisees' worship is a performance masking hearts far from God. By saying Isaiah 'prophesied of you,' he treats Scripture as living and directly applicable to his hearers. The quotation that follows (Isaiah 29:13) becomes God's own verdict on empty, traditionalized religion.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Mark 7:6He 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.
- Matt 23:23–29Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
- Acts 28:25–27And 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,
- Matt 7:5Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 15:7 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.