Matthew 15:4-9

15:4 For God said, ¹  ‘Honor your father and mother’ ²  and ‘Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.’ ³  15:5 But you say, ‘If someone tells his father or mother, “Whatever help you would have received from me is given to God,” ⁴  15:6 he does not need to honor his father.’ ⁵  You have nullified the word of God on account of your tradition. 15:7 Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said,

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

but their heart ⁶  is far from me,

15:9 and they worship me in vain,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” ⁷ 

[15:4]  ¹ tc Most mss (א*^,2 C L W 0106 33 Ï) have an expanded introduction here; instead of “For God said,” they read “For God commanded, saying” (ὁ γὰρ θεὸς ἐνετείλατο λέγων, Jo gar qeo" eneteilato legwn). But such expansions are generally motivated readings; in this case, most likely it was due to the wording of the previous verse (“the commandment of God”) that caused early scribes to add to the text. Although it is possible that other witnesses reduced the text to the simple εἶπεν (eipen, “[God] said”) because of perceived redundancy with the statement in v. 3, such is unlikely in light of the great variety and age of these authorities (א¹ B D Θ 073 Ë^1,13 579 700 892 pc lat co, as well as other versions and fathers).

[15:4]  ² sn A quotation from Exod 20:12; Deut 5:16.

[15:4]  ³ sn A quotation from Exod 21:17; Lev 20:9.

[15:5]  ⁴ tn Grk “is a gift,” that is, something dedicated to God.

[15:6]  ⁷ tc The logic of v. 5 would seem to demand that both father and mother are in view in v. 6. Indeed, the majority of mss (C L W Θ 0106 ˹ Ï) have “or his mother” (ἢ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ, h thn mhtera autou) after “honor his father” here. However, there are significant witnesses that have variations on this theme (καὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ [kai thn mhtera autou, “and his mother”] in Φ 565 1241 pc and ἢ τὴν μητέρα [“or mother”] in 073 ˹³ 33 579 700 892 pc), which is usually an indication of a predictable addition to the text rather than an authentic reading. Further, the shorter reading (without any mention of “mother”) is found in early and important witnesses (א B D sa). Although it is possible that the shorter reading came about accidentally (due to the repetition of –ερα αὐτοῦ), the evidence more strongly suggests that the longer readings were intentional scribal alterations.

[15:8]  ¹⁰ tn The term “heart” is a collective singular in the Greek text.

[15:9]  ¹³ sn A quotation from Isa 29:13.