The Lord says,“ These people worship me only with their words. They honor me by what they say. But their hearts are far away from me. Their worship doesn’t mean anything to me. They teach nothing but human rules that they have been taught.

主说：“因为这百姓亲近我，用嘴唇尊敬我，心却远离我；他们敬畏我，不过是领受人的吩咐。

主说：“因这百姓以口亲近我，用嘴唇尊敬我，心却远离我；他们敬畏我，不过是领受前人的命令。

主说：“因这百姓以口亲近我，用嘴唇尊敬我，心却远离我；他们敬畏我，不过是领受前人的命令。

主说：“这些人嘴上亲近我，尊崇我，心却远离我。他们敬拜我不过是遵行人定的规条。

主说：“因为这子民只用言语来亲近我，用嘴唇尊崇我，他们的心却远离我。他们对我的敬畏，只是遵从传统的吩咐。

主说：“因为这子民嘴上亲近我，用嘴唇尊重我，他们的心却远离我；他们敬畏我，不过是遵行人所教导的规条；

主說：因為這百姓親近我，用嘴唇尊敬我，心卻遠離我；他們敬畏我，不過是領受人的吩咐。

主說：「因這百姓以口親近我，用嘴唇尊敬我，心卻遠離我；他們敬畏我，不過是領受前人的命令。

主說：「因這百姓以口親近我，用嘴唇尊敬我，心卻遠離我；他們敬畏我，不過是領受前人的命令。

主說：「這些人嘴上親近我，尊崇我，心卻遠離我。他們敬拜我不過是遵行人定的規條。

主說：“因為這子民只用言語來親近我，用嘴唇尊崇我，他們的心卻遠離我。他們對我的敬畏，只是遵從傳統的吩咐。

主說：『這人民既只是口頭上親近我，嘴脣上尊敬我，心卻遠離着我；他們之敬畏我、不過是死記着人所吩咐的罷了；

主說：「因為這子民嘴上親近我，用嘴唇尊重我，他們的心卻遠離我；他們敬畏我，不過是遵行人所教導的規條；

主曰、斯民以口親我、以脣尊我、而心則遠我、彼之畏我、乃從人所授之命耳、

主曰、斯民以口舌附我、言則敬我、而心則遠我、其敬畏我者、苟隨流俗而已。

主曰、此民但以口親近我、以唇尊敬我、而心則遠離我、其敬畏我者、不過守習學世人所傳之誡而已、

The Lord says:“ These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.

And the Lord said:“ Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,

And so the Lord says,“ These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man made rules learned by rote.

The Lord said: These people approach me with their speeches to honor me with lip-service, yet their hearts are far from me, and human rules direct their worship of me.

Then the Lord said,“ Because this people approaches Me with their words And honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of the commandment of men that is taught;

Therefore the Lord said:“ Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,

And the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw nigh unto me, and with their mouth and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which hath been taught them;

The Lord said: Because these people approach Me with their mouths to honor Me with lip-service— yet their hearts are far from Me, and their worship consists of man-made rules learned by rote—

Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near[ me] with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

The sovereign master says,“ These people say they are loyal to me; they say wonderful things about me, but they are not really loyal to me. Their worship consists of nothing but man- made ritual.

The Lord said,“ Because this people draws near with their mouth and honors me with their lips, but they have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught;

They saw some of his disciples eating food with“ unclean” hands. That means they were not washed.The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands to make them“ clean.” That’s what the elders teach.When they come from the market, they do not eat unless they wash. And they follow many other teachings. For example, they wash cups, pitchers, and kettles in a special way.So the Pharisees and the teachers of the law questioned Jesus.“ Why don’t your disciples live by what the elders teach?” they asked.“ Why do they eat their food with‘ unclean’ hands?”He replied,“ Isaiah was right. He prophesied about you people who pretend to be good. He said,“‘ These people honor me by what they say. But their hearts are far away from me.Their worship doesn’t mean anything to me. They teach nothing but human rules.’( Isaiah 29:13)You have let go of God’s commands. And you are holding on to teachings that people have made up.”Jesus continued speaking,“ You have a fine way of setting aside God’s commands! You do this so you can follow your own teachings.Moses said,‘ Honor your father and mother.’( Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16) He also said,‘ Anyone who asks for bad things to happen to their father or mother must be put to death.’( Exodus 21:17; Leviticus 20:9)But you allow people to say that what might have been used to help their parents is Corban. Corban means A Gift Set Apart for God.So you no longer let them do anything for their parents.You make the word of God useless by putting your own teachings in its place. And you do many things like this.”

You have planted them. Their roots are deep in the ground. They grow and produce fruit. They honor you by what they say. But their hearts are far away from you.

My people come to you, just as they usually do. They sit in front of you. They hear what you say. But they do not put it into practice. With their mouths they say they love me. But in their hearts they want what belongs to others. They try to get rich by cheating them.You are nothing more to them than someone who sings love songs. They say you have a beautiful voice. They think you play an instrument well. They hear what you say. But they do not put it into practice.“ Everything I have told you will come true. You can be sure of it. Then the people will know that a prophet has been among them.”

In spite of all this, their sister nation Judah did not come back to me. They were not faithful to me either. They did not return with all their heart. They only pretended to,” announces the Lord.

Day after day they worship me. They seem ready and willing to know how I want them to live. They act as if they were a nation that does what is right. They act as if they have not turned away from my commands. They claim to want me to give them fair decisions. They seem ready and willing to come near and worship me.‘ We have gone without food,’ they say.‘ Why haven’t you noticed it? We have made ourselves suffer. Why haven’t you paid any attention to us?’“ On the day when you fast, you do as you please. You take advantage of all your workers.

“ Why don’t your disciples obey what the elders teach? Your disciples don’t wash their hands before they eat!”Jesus replied,“ And why don’t you obey God’s command? You would rather follow your own teachings!God said,‘ Honor your father and mother.’( Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16) He also said,‘ Anyone who asks for bad things to happen to their father or mother must be put to death.’( Exodus 21:17; Leviticus 20:9)But suppose people have something that might be used to help their parents. You allow them to say it is instead‘ a gift set apart for God.’So they do not need to honor their father or mother with their gift. You make the word of God useless in order to follow your own teachings.You pretenders! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you. He said,“‘ These people honor me by what they say. But their hearts are far away from me.Their worship doesn’t mean anything to me. They teach nothing but human rules.’ ”( Isaiah 29:13)

Don’t add to his words. If you do, he will correct you. He will prove that you are a liar.

Rules like these are about things that will pass away soon. They are based on merely human rules and teachings.

People of Jacob, listen to me. You are called by the name of Israel. You come from the family line of Judah. You make promises in the name of the Lord. You pray to Israel’s God. But you aren’t honest. You don’t mean what you say.You call yourselves citizens of the holy city of Jerusalem. You say you depend on Israel’s God. His name is the Lord Who Rules Over All. He says,

You made a big mistake when you asked me to pray to the Lord your God. You said,‘ Pray to the Lord our God for us. Tell us everything he says. We’ll do it.’

All of them said to Jeremiah the prophet,“ Please listen to our appeal. Pray to the Lord your God. Pray for all of us who are left here. Once there were many of us. But as you can see, only a few of us are left now.So pray to the Lord your God. Pray that he’ll tell us where we should go. Pray that he’ll tell us what we should do.”“ I’ve heard you,” Jeremiah the prophet replied.“ I’ll certainly pray to the Lord your God. I’ll do what you have asked me to do. In fact, I’ll tell you everything the Lord says. I won’t keep anything back from you.”

They make their promises in my name. They say,‘ You can be sure that the Lord is alive.’ But their promises can’t be trusted.”

Hezekiah was 25 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother’s name was Abijah. She was the daughter of Zechariah.Hezekiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as King David had done.In the first month of Hezekiah’s first year as king, he opened the doors of the Lord’ s temple. He repaired them.He brought the priests and Levites in. He gathered them together in the open area on the east side of the temple.He said,“ Levites, listen to me! Set yourselves apart to the Lord. Set apart the temple of the Lord. He’s the God of your people who lived long ago. Remove anything‘ unclean’ from the temple.Our people weren’t faithful. They did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord our God. They deserted him. They turned their faces away from the place where he lives. They turned their backs on him.They also shut the doors of the temple porch. They put the lamps out. They didn’t burn incense at the temple. They didn’t sacrifice burnt offerings there to the God of Israel.So the Lord has become angry with Judah and Jerusalem. He has made them look so bad that everyone is shocked when they see them. They laugh at them. You can see it with your own eyes.That’s why our fathers have been killed by swords. That’s why our sons and daughters and wives have become prisoners.So I’m planning to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel. Then he’ll stop being angry with us.My sons, don’t fail to obey the Lord. He has chosen you to stand in front of him and work for him. He wants you to serve him and burn incense to him.”Here are the Levites who went to work. Mahath and Joel were from the family line of Kohath. Mahath was the son of Amasai. Joel was the son of Azariah. Kish and Azariah were from the family line of Merari. Kish was the son of Abdi. Azariah was the son of Jehallelel. Joah and Eden were from the family line of Gershon. Joah was the son of Zimmah. Eden was the son of Joah.Shimri and Jeiel were from the family line of Elizaphan. Zechariah and Mattaniah were from the family line of Asaph.Jehiel and Shimei were from the family line of Heman. Shemaiah and Uzziel were from the family line of Jeduthun.All these Levites gathered the other Levites together. They set themselves apart to the Lord. Then they went in to purify the Lord’ s temple. That’s what the king had ordered them to do. They did what the Lord told them to.The priests went into the Lord’ s temple to make it pure. They brought out to the temple courtyard everything that was“ unclean.” They had found“ unclean” things in the Lord’ s temple. The Levites took them and carried them out to the Kidron Valley.On the first day of the first month they began to set everything in the temple apart to the Lord. By the eighth day of the month they reached the Lord’ s porch. For eight more days they set the Lord’ s temple itself apart to him. They finished on the 16th day of the first month.Then they went to King Hezekiah. They reported,“ We’ve purified the whole temple of the Lord. That includes the altar for burnt offerings and all its tools. It also includes the table for the holy bread and all its objects.We’ve prepared all the things King Ahaz had removed. We’ve set them apart to the Lord. Ahaz had removed them while he was king. He wasn’t faithful to the Lord. Those things are now in front of the Lord’ s altar.”Early the next morning King Hezekiah gathered together the city officials. They all went up to the Lord’ s temple.They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven male lambs and seven male goats with them. They sacrificed the animals as a sin offering for the kingdom, for the temple and for Judah. The king commanded the priests to offer them on the Lord’ s altar. The priests were from the family line of Aaron.They killed the bulls. Then they splashed the blood against the altar. Next they killed the rams and splashed the blood against the altar. Then they killed the lambs and splashed the blood against the altar.The goats for the sin offering were brought to the king and the whole community. They placed their hands on them.Then the priests killed the goats. They put the blood on the altar as a sin offering. It paid for the sin of the whole nation of Israel. The king had ordered the burnt offering and the sin offering for the whole nation.Hezekiah stationed the Levites in the Lord’ s temple. They had cymbals, harps and lyres. They did everything in the way King David, his prophet Gad, and Nathan the prophet had required. The Lord had given commands about all these things through his prophets.So the Levites stood ready with David’s musical instruments. And the priests had their trumpets ready.Hezekiah gave the order to sacrifice the burnt offering on the altar. The offering began. Singing to the Lord also began. The singing was accompanied by the trumpets and by the instruments of David. He had been king of Israel.The whole community bowed down. They worshiped the Lord. At the same time the musicians played their musical instruments. The priests blew their trumpets. All of that continued until the burnt offering had been sacrificed.So the offerings were finished. King Hezekiah got down on his knees. He worshiped the Lord. So did everyone who was with him.The king and his officials ordered the Levites to praise the Lord. They used the words of David and Asaph the prophet. They sang praises with joy. They bowed down and worshiped the Lord.Then Hezekiah said,“ You have set yourselves apart to the Lord. Come and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to his temple.” So the whole community brought sacrifices and thank offerings. Everyone who wanted to brought burnt offerings.

Lord, hear me, because I ask for what is right. Listen to my cry for help. Hear my prayer. It doesn’t come from lips that tell lies.

I will send them against the ungodly nation of Judah. I will order them to fight against my own people. My people make me angry. I will order Assyria to take their goods and carry them away. I will order Assyria to walk on my people as if they were walking on mud.