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So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders[a] but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?” He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:(A)

‘This people honors me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me;
In vain do they worship me,
    teaching as doctrines human precepts.’

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Footnotes

  1. 7:5 Tradition of the elders: the body of detailed, unwritten, human laws regarded by the scribes and Pharisees to have the same binding force as that of the Mosaic law; cf. Gal 1:14.

So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders(A) instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”

He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

“‘These people honor me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
    their teachings are merely human rules.’[a](B)

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Footnotes

  1. Mark 7:7 Isaiah 29:13