And the Lord said: Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify me, but their heart is far from me, and they have feared me with the commandment and doctrines of men:

“Let us cleave, therefore, to those who cultivate peace with godliness, and not to those who hypocritically profess to desire it. For [the Scripture] saith in a certain place, "This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me." [Isaiah 29:13] And again: "They bless with their mouth, but curse with their heart." [Psalm 62:4] And again it saith, "They loved Him with their mouth, and lied to Him with their tongue; but their heart was not right with Him, neither were they faithful in His covenant." [Psalm 78:36-37] "Let the deceitful lips become silent," [and "let the Lord destroy all the lying lips, ] and the boastful tongue of those who have said, Let us magnify our tongue; our lips are our own; who is lord over us? For the oppression of the poor, and for the sighing of the needy, will I now arise, saith the Lord: I will place him in safety; I will deal confidently with him." [Psalm 12:3-5]”

“What is this obstinacy or what is this presumption to place human tradition before the divine plan and not to notice that God is offended and angered as often as human tradition subverts and disregards the divine precepts? He cries and says through Isaiah, the prophet, "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far separated from me. In vain, moreover, they honor me, teaching the commandments and doctrines of men."”

“For speaking in this way or in that is not the cause of the thought within us, but the hidden conception of the heart supplies the motive for such and such words, "for from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." We make the words interpret the thought; we do not by a reverse process gather the thought from the words. Should both be at hand, a person may certainly be ready in both, in clever thinking and clever expression; but if the one should be wanting, the loss to the illiterate is slight, if the knowledge in his soul is perfect in the direction of moral goodness. "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." What is the meaning of that? That the right attitude of the soul toward the truth is more precious than the propriety of phrases in the sight of God, who hears the "groanings that cannot be uttered." Phrases can be used in opposite senses; the tongue readily serving, at his will, the intention of the speaker; but the disposition of the soul, as it is, so is it seen by him who sees all secrets.”

“If we do not see our children deriving any benefit from the teachers we send them to, then we blame the teachers and take our children to other teachers. What excuse will we have for putting so much emphasis on earthly things but not putting emphasis on virtue? Our teachers here [at church] are far more numerous. No less than the prophets and apostles and patriarchs and all righteous people are set over you as teachers in every church. And there is no profit in merely chanting out two or three psalms, making the accustomed prayers at random and then being dismissed. Do you think this is enough for your salvation? Have you not heard the prophet (or rather God through the prophet) say, "These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me"?To keep this from being the case with us as well, then wipe out the letters and impressions the devil has engraved on your souls, and bring me a heart that has been set free from worldly tumults so I can write on it what I want to.”

“Leah, too, received children by her handmaid, from the desire of having a numerous family. Zilpah, her handmaid, is, interpreted, an open mouth. So Leah's handmaid represents those who are spoken of in Scripture as engaging in the preaching of the gospel with open mouth but not with open heart. Thus it is written of some, "This people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." To such the apostle says, "You that preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? You that say a man should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?"”

“Because this people has come near Jonathan renders: Because this people has aggrandized itself. I.e., they have come near to raise themselves up to the heavens. They show themselves as though honoring Me with mouth and lip, but their heart they have drawn far away from Me. and their fear of Me has become not wholehearted, but by the command of the people who teach them, they show themselves as humbled before Him in order to entice Him with your mouth.”

“Woe, Ariel. In this part he sets forth a threat against the people, or against the city; and it is divided into two parts. In the first he threatens the punishment of temporal destruction; in the second, the punishment of spiritual blindness, Be astonished. Concerning the first, two things. In the first he threatens destruction; in the second he sets forth some sort of consolation, and it shall be as a dream. The first into two. In the first, the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. In the second, by the Romans, and I will encompass. Concerning the first, three things. First he recalls its former dignity. Ariel, that is, lion of God, because by the power of God, in the times of David and Solomon, it feared no one, just as a lion does not either. Proverbs 30: a lion, strongest of beasts, will tremble at the meeting of no one. Or on account of the altar of holocausts, which was there, which consumed animals as a lion does. And so as it is taken in Ezekiel 43: or perhaps on account of its shape, because it was situated after the manner of a lion. He conquered. 1 Kings 17: for I conquered the lion and the bear. Second he sets forth the destruction, positing three things: the cessation of feasts, add, as if to say, for many years. Have rolled around, that is, have perished. Hosea 3: they shall sit many days without sacrifice and without ephod. Siege, and I will encircle with a rampart, namely by the Chaldeans. Ezekiel 4: it shall be in a state of siege; and he hints at the conquest arising from sorrow, and she shall be sorrowful. Lamentations 1: many are her groans, etc. Third he sets forth the restoration made under Jesus the high priest and others, concerning whom the whole of Esdras treats. And it shall be to me; as if to say: retaining only a shadow of its former dignity. But on the contrary: Haggai 2: great is the glory of this latter house, more than of the former. And it must be said that this is said on account of the fact that it was visited by the Son of God himself, even bodily. And I will encompass. Here he threatens destruction by the Romans; and concerning this he sets forth four things. First, the siege, and I will encompass as a sphere, that is, round about. Luke 19: your enemies shall encompass you with a rampart. Habakkuk 1: he shall laugh at every fortification, and shall heap up a mound. Second, the humiliation of the besieged, you shall be humbled; and the sign of the humiliation: you shall speak out of the earth, that is, just as if you were under the earth, you shall even be heard speaking lowly, bearing the words of a python-spirit, who used to chant incantations silently. Zephaniah 3: I will take away out of your midst the evil-speakers of your pride. Or the merit of the humiliation, reproving in them the sin of avarice, you shall speak out of the earth; and of idolatry, and it shall be as of a python-spirit. Third he sets forth the multitude of enemies, and it shall be as dust: Joel 1: a nation has come up; or the destruction of the enemies, as above, 17: it shall be carried off like the dust of the mountains before the face of the wind. Fourth he sets forth the destruction itself, and it shall be suddenly: metaphorically, on account of the ferocity of the enemies. Jeremiah 4: he shall come up as a cloud, and as a tempest: his chariots are swifter than eagles. And it shall be as a dream. Here he applies a certain consolation drawn from the punishment of the enemies, because, like a vain thing, they shall come to nothing, carrying back no advantage from the destruction of Judea, just as neither does one who is hungry or thirsty gain anything from food or drink dreamed of. Ecclesiasticus 34: vain hope and a lie are to a senseless man, and dreams lift up the imprudent. Zechariah 12: I will make Jerusalem a stone of burden to all peoples. Note on that word, and it shall be as a dream, that a thing is called a dream, first, on account of vanity. Ecclesiasticus 34: the vision of dreams is according to this; second, on account of brevity. Job 20: like a dream flying up he shall not be found. Third, on account of the obscurity of its knowing. Job 33: through a dream, in a vision of the night. Fourth, on account of the perversity of the soul. Below, 56: sleeping, and loving dreams. Be astonished, here he threatens the punishment of blindness: and first he foretells the blindness of the Jews; second, the conversion of the Gentiles, is it not yet. Concerning the first, two things. First he sets forth the blindness; second he assigns its reason, and the Lord said. Concerning the first, three things. First he foretells the blindness, setting forth those things which disturb the judgment of reason: be astonished, from the consideration of the evils of fault or of punishment. Jeremiah 2: be astonished, O heavens, at this, and, O gates of heaven, be very desolate. And wonder, from the consideration of great things. Psalm 138: wonderful are your works. Waver, from the uncertainty of things to be chosen. James 1: for he who hesitates is like the wind; be shaken, from the inconstancy of purposes. Job 4: your hands have strengthened the staggering. Be drunk, from the anxiety of sorrows. Habakkuk 2: drink also, you, and be fast asleep; the cup of the right hand of the Lord shall come round about you. Second he sets forth the manner of the blindness, for he has mingled; that is, as mingled wine he has given to drink, your eyes, namely the prophets. Above, 19: the Lord has mingled in its midst a spirit of dizziness. Third he sets forth the effect of the blindness, because the book of sacred Scripture and the visions of all the prophets they shall not understand. And it shall be to you. Apocalypse 5: I saw in the right hand of him who sat a book. And the Lord said. Here he sets forth the cause of the blindness, namely their own sin: first as to the affections; second as to the intellect, woe to those who are deep. Concerning the first he sets forth two things. First the fault of contempt of God, but his heart, because they cloak it with words, with lips, with human observances. And they feared. Jeremiah 12: you are near to their mouth, and far from their reins. Matthew 15: you have made void the commandment of God for the sake of your traditions. Second, the punishment, therefore behold I, great, according to their own reputation, or formerly. Obadiah: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the prudence of the prudent I will reject: 1 Corinthians 1. Woe to those who are deep. Here he sets forth the sin on the part of the intellect, because they did not believe in the providence of God, that he would know the things that are done concerning us: and concerning this he does two things. First the devising of the error is set forth. Now they said that they escaped God's notice, on account of the depth of the heart, where they turned over their wicked counsels: hence he says, who are deep, Jeremiah 17: the heart of man is deep and unsearchable; who shall know it? And on account of the obscurity of the places in which they carried out their wicked works: hence he says, whose are, John 3: everyone who does evil hates the light. Ecclesiasticus 16: do not say, I shall be hidden from God. Second the just rebuke is set forth, it is perverse. You have not made it, because God knows insofar as he is the cause of the thing. Below, 45: woe to him that contradicts his maker. Below, 64: and now, O Lord, you are our father, but we are clay; and you our fashioner, and we are all the works of your hands. Is it not. Here he foretells the conversion of the Gentiles: and concerning this he does three things. First he foretells the conversion to grace. Lebanon, the Gentiles, because it was a mountain in the land of the Gentiles; into Carmel, into the grace which the Jews had through circumcision, because it is interpreted knowledge of circumcision. Into a forest, that is, into the barrenness in which the Gentiles previously were. Below, 32, the same is found. To sacred knowledge, the deaf, namely the Gentiles, who previously had not heard the words of the law. Matthew 2: the blind see. John 9: I have come into this world for judgment, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind. To spiritual gladness, and they shall add. Psalm 9: I will be glad and exult in you, I will sing to your name, O Most High. Second he assigns the occasion, or reason, of the conversion, from the fall of the Devil: for he has failed who prevailed, through power; the mocker, the deceiver through cunning. Above, 16: the wretch is consumed, from the blindness of the Jewish people: because blindness in part has come upon Israel: Romans 11. Cut down are those who watched: eagerness toward evil. Proverbs 4: for they do not sleep, unless they have done evil. Who to sin, by wicked examples and teachings. Him that reproved, as to the contempt of discipline. Amos 5: they have hated him that reproves in the gate. They have turned aside, as to the vanity of sin, because that which does not attain its end is in vain. Wisdom 5: what has pride profited us, or what has the boasting of riches conferred upon us? Third he sets forth the return of the Jews at the end of the world, therefore thus says; who redeemed, Genesis 11. Not now, that is, in this time, shall he be confounded, with a good confusion. Ecclesiasticus 4: there is a confusion that brings glory; sons, the apostles, murmurers, that is, those who formerly murmured. Above, 27: they that shall go forth with impetus from Jacob, and Israel shall blossom and bud. Or it can be expounded otherwise, of the prosperity which is promised to them once Sennacherib or Nebuchadnezzar has been destroyed. Carmel into a forest; that is, so great shall be the fertility of the land of promise, that the fertility of Carmel shall be reckoned barrenness in comparison to it. The mocker, Sennacherib or Nebuchadnezzar. His sons, the three youths in the furnace of fire: or because their own children shall render the praise of my name, which they themselves did not render in their youth.”

“Wherefore the Lord said,.... Concerning the hypocritical people of the Jews in Christ's time, as the words are applied by our Lord himself, Mat 15:7, Forasmuch as this people draw near to me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me; Kimchi observes, there is a double reading of the word rendered "draw near": in one reading of it, it signifies to be "afflicted"; and then the sense is, "when this people are afflicted, with their mouth, and with their lips, they honour me"; that is, when they are in distress, they pray unto him, and profess a great regard for him, speak honourably of him, and reverently to him, hoping he will help and relieve them; see Isa 26:16 but the other reading of the word, in which it has the signification of "drawing near", is confirmed, not only by the Masora on the text, but by the citation of it in Mat 15:7 and designs the approach of these people to God, in acts of religion and devotion, in praying to him, and praising of him, and expressing great love and affection for him, and zeal for his cause and interest; but were all outwardly, with their lips and mouths only: but have removed their heart far from me; these were not employed in his service, which is the main thing he requires and regards, but were engaged elsewhere; while their bodies were presented before him, and their mouths and lips were moving to him, their affections were not set upon him, nor the desires of their souls unto him, nor had they any real hearty concern for his glory: and their fear towards me is taught by the precept of men; their worship of God was not according to the prescription of God, and his revealed will; but according to the traditions of the elders, which they preferred to the word of God, and, by observing them, transgressed it, and made it of no effect; see Mat 15:3.”

“Men. Our Saviour applies this to the Jews. The evangelists follow the Septuagint, Matthew xv. 8., and Mark vii. 6. (Calmet) — “This people approacheth to me, (Grabe adds, with its mouth and with) their lips they honour me, but their heart is far from me. Yet in vain do they honour me, teaching the commands of men and doctrines.” (Haydock) — They still continue to corrupt God’s word by their false interpretations.”

“Matt 15 : 8; Mark 7 : 6. The neglect of the practical exhibition of faith and worship is justly com- plained of. ''The Jewish people, with their mouth and lips draw nigh to God, since they glory in the worship of one God; but their heart is far from Him, fbr they receive not the Lord Jesus Christ." St. Jerome. u Honor, worship.”

“This stupefaction was the self-inflicted punishment of the dead works with which the people mocked God and deceived themselves. "The Lord hath spoken: Because this people approaches me with its mouth, and honours me with its lips, and keeps its heart far from me, and its reverence of me has become a commandment learned from men: therefore, behold, I will proceed wondrously with this people, wondrously and marvellously strange; and the wisdom of its wise men is lost, and the understanding of its intelligent men becomes invisible." Ever since the time of Asaph (Ps 50, cf., Psa 78:36-37), the lamentation and condemnation of hypocritical ceremonial worship, without living faith or any striving after holiness, had been a leading theme of prophecy. Even in Isaiah's introductory address (chapter 1) this complain was uttered quite in the tone of that of Asaph. In the time of Hezekiah it was peculiarly called for, just as it was afterwards in that of Josiah (as the book of Jeremiah shows). The people had been obliged to consent to the abolition of the public worship of idols, but their worship of Jehovah was hypocrisy. Sometimes it was conscious hypocrisy, arising from the fear of man and favour of man; sometimes unconscious, inasmuch as without any inward conversion, but simply with work-righteousness, the people contented themselves with, and even prided themselves upon, an outward fulfilment of the law (Mic 6:6-8; Mic 3:11). Instead of נגּשׁ (lxx, Vulg., Syr., Mat 15:8; Mar 7:6), we also meet with the reading נגּשׂ, "because this people harasses itself as with tributary service;" but the antithesis to richaq (lxx πόῤῥω ἀπέχει ) favours the former reading niggash, accedit; and bephı̄v (with its moth) must be connected with this, though in opposition to the accents. This self-alienation and self-blinding, Jehovah would punish with a wondrously paradoxical judgment, namely, the judgment of a hardening, which would so completely empty and confuse, that even the appearance of wisdom and unity, which the leaders of Israel still had, would completely disappear. יוסיף (as in Isa 38:5) is not the third person fut. hiphil here (so that it could be rendered, according to Isa 28:16, "Behold, I am he who;" or more strictly still, "Behold me, who;" which, however, would give a prominence to the subject that would be out of place here), but the part. kal for יוסף. That the language really allowed of such a lengthening of the primary form qatĭl into qatı̄l, and especially in the case of יוסיף, is evident from Ecc 1:18 (see at Psa 16:5). In ופלא הפלא, פלא (cf., Lam 1:9) alternates with the gerundive (see at Isa 22:17): the fifth example in this one address of the emphatic juxtaposition of words having a similar sound and the same derivation (vid., Isa 29:1, Isa 29:5, Isa 29:7, Isa 29:9).”