He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God commanded, saying, (A)‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, (B)‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, (C)“Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God”— then he need not honor his father [a]or mother.’ Thus you have made the [b]commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. (D)Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:

‘These(E) people [c]draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
And in vain they worship Me,
(F)Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

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Footnotes

  1. Matthew 15:6 NU omits or mother
  2. Matthew 15:6 NU word
  3. Matthew 15:8 NU omits draw near to Me with their mouth, And

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