Matthew 23:3

23:3 Therefore pay attention to what they tell you and do it. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they teach. ¹ 

Ezekiel 33:31

33:31 They come to you in crowds, ²  and they sit in front of you as ³  my people. They hear your words, but do not obey ⁴  them. For they talk lustfully, ⁵  and their heart is set on ⁶  their own advantage. ⁷ 

Romans 2:17-25

The Condemnation of the Jew

2:17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law ⁸  and boast of your relationship to God ⁹  2:18 and know his will ¹⁰  and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law, ¹¹  2:19 and if you are convinced ¹²  that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 2:20 an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth – 2:21 therefore ¹³  you who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 2:22 You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor ¹⁴  idols, do you rob temples? 2:23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law! 2:24 For just as it is written, “the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” ¹⁵ 

2:25 For circumcision ¹⁶  has its value if you practice the law, but ¹⁷  if you break the law, ¹⁸  your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

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 Grk “for they say and do not do.”

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

³ tn The word “as” is supplied in the translation.

⁴ tn Heb “do.”

⁵ tn Heb “They do lust with their mouths.”

⁶ tn Heb “goes after.”

⁷ 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.

⁸ sn The law refers to the Mosaic law, described mainly in the OT books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

⁹ tn Grk “boast in God.” This may be an allusion to Jer 9:24.

¹⁰ tn Grk “the will.”

¹¹ tn Grk “because of being instructed out of the law.”

¹² tn This verb is parallel to the verbs in vv. 17-18a, so it shares the conditional meaning even though the word “if” is not repeated.

¹³ tn The structure of vv. 21-24 is difficult. Some take these verses as the apodosis of the conditional clauses (protases) in vv. 17-20; others see vv. 17-20 as an instance of anacoluthon (a broken off or incomplete construction).

¹⁴ tn Or “detest.”

¹⁵ sn A quotation from Isa 52:5.

¹⁶ sn Circumcision refers to male circumcision as prescribed in the OT, which was given as a covenant to Abraham in Gen 17:10-14. Its importance for Judaism can hardly be overstated: According to J. D. G. Dunn (Romans [WBC], 1:120) it was the “single clearest distinguishing feature of the covenant people.” J. Marcus has suggested that the terms used for circumcision (περιτομή, peritomh) and uncircumcision (ἀκροβυστία, akrobustia) were probably derogatory slogans used by Jews and Gentiles to describe their opponents (“The Circumcision and the Uncircumcision in Rome,” NTS 35 [1989]: 77-80).

¹⁷ tn This contrast is clearer and stronger in Greek than can be easily expressed in English.

¹⁸ tn Grk “if you should be a transgressor of the law.”