So he answered and[a] said to them, “Why do you also break the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your[b] father and your[c] mother,’[d] and ‘The one who speaks evil of father or mother must certainly die[e].’[f] But you say, ‘Whoever says to his[g] father or his[h] mother, “Whatever benefit you would have received[i] from me is a gift to God,” need not honor his father,’[j] and you make void the word of God for the sake of your tradition. Hypocrites! Isaiah correctly prophesied about you saying,

‘This people honors me with their[k] lips,
    but their heart is far, far away from me,
and they worship me in vain,
    teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”[l]

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Footnotes

  1. Matthew 15:3 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“answered”) has been translated as a finite verb
  2. Matthew 15:4 Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
  3. Matthew 15:4 Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
  4. Matthew 15:4 A quotation from Exod 20:12; Deut 5:16
  5. Matthew 15:4 Literally “let him die the death”
  6. Matthew 15:4 A quotation from Exod 21:17; Lev 20:9
  7. Matthew 15:5 Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
  8. Matthew 15:5 Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
  9. Matthew 15:5 Literally “you would have been benefited”
  10. Matthew 15:6 Most later manuscripts add “or his mother”
  11. Matthew 15:8 Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
  12. Matthew 15:9 A quotation from Isa 29:13