Isaiah 29:13

29:13 The sovereign master ¹  says,

“These people say they are loyal to me; ² 

they say wonderful things about me, ³ 

but they are not really loyal to me. ⁴ 

Their worship consists of

nothing but man-made ritual. ⁵ 

Ezekiel 33:31

33:31 They come to you in crowds, ⁶  and they sit in front of you as ⁷  my people. They hear your words, but do not obey ⁸  them. For they talk lustfully, ⁹  and their heart is set on ¹⁰  their own advantage. ¹¹ 

Matthew 15:8

15:8 ‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart ¹²  is far from me,

Mark 7:6

7:6 He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written:

‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart ¹³  is far from me.

Titus 1:16

1:16 They profess to know God but with their deeds they deny him, since they are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good deed.

¹ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai).

² tn Heb “Because these people draw near to me with their mouth.”

³ tn Heb “and with their lips they honor me.”

⁴ tn Heb “but their heart is far from me.” The heart is viewed here as the seat of the will, from which genuine loyalty derives.

⁵ tn Heb “their fear of me is a commandment of men that has been taught.”

⁶ tn Heb “as people come.” Apparently this is an idiom indicating that they come in crowds. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:264.

⁷ tn The word “as” is supplied in the translation.

⁸ tn Heb “do.”

⁹ tn Heb “They do lust with their mouths.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “goes after.”

¹¹ tn The present translation understands the term often used for “unjust gain” in a wider sense, following M. Greenberg, who also notes that the LXX uses a term which can describe either sexual or ritual pollution. See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:687.

¹² tn The term “heart” is a collective singular in the Greek text.

¹³ tn The term “heart” is a collective singular in the Greek text.