Jeremiah 42:20

42:20 You are making a fatal mistake. For you sent me to the Lord your God and asked me, ‘Pray to the Lord our God for us. Tell us what the Lord our God says and we will do it.’

Isaiah 29:13

29:13 The sovereign master says,

“These people say they are loyal to me;

they say wonderful things about me,

but they are not really loyal to me.

Their worship consists of

nothing but man-made ritual.

Isaiah 48:1

The Lord Appeals to the Exiles

48:1 Listen to this, O family of Jacob,

you who are called by the name ‘Israel,’

and are descended from Judah,

who take oaths in the name of the Lord,

and invoke the God of Israel –

but not in an honest and just manner.

Isaiah 58:1-2

The Lord Desires Genuine Devotion

58:1 “Shout loudly! Don’t be quiet!

Yell as loud as a trumpet!

Confront my people with their rebellious deeds;

confront Jacob’s family with their sin!

58:2 They seek me day after day;

they want to know my requirements,

like a nation that does what is right

and does not reject the law of their God.

They ask me for just decrees;

they want to be near God.

Ezekiel 14:3-4

14:3 “Son of man, these men have erected their idols in their hearts and placed the obstacle leading to their iniquity right before their faces. Should I really allow them to seek me? 14:4 Therefore speak to them and say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: When any one from the house of Israel erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face, and then consults a prophet, I the Lord am determined to answer him personally according to the enormity of his idolatry.

Ezekiel 20:1-3

Israel’s Rebellion

20:1 In the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth of the month, some of the elders of Israel came to seek the Lord, and they sat down in front of me. 20:2 The word of the Lord came to me: 20:3 “Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and tell them: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Are you coming to seek me? As surely as I live, I will not allow you to seek me, declares the sovereign Lord.’

Ezekiel 33:31

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

Matthew 15:8

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

but their heart is far from me,