³ therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it, but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach.

¹⁶ They profess to know God, but they deny him by their actions; they are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.^(A)

⁵ holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid them!

¹⁹ and if you are sure that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰ a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth,^{(A) 21} you, then, who teach others, will you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?^{(B) 22} You who forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³ You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by your transgression of the law? ²⁴ For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed^[a] among the gentiles because of you.”^(C)

²⁹ But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than any human authority.^[a](A)

Being Subject to Authorities

13 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God.^(A)

¹² The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the officials commanded by the word of the Lord.

³⁰ The father^[a] went to the second and said the same, and he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go.

² “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat.”^{(A) 3} He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴ For God said,^[a] ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.’^{(B) 5} But you say that whoever tells father or mother, ‘Whatever support you might have had from me is given to God,’^[b] then that person need not honor the father.^{[c](C) 6} So, for the sake of your tradition, you nullify the word^[d] of God. ⁷ You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said: