Matthew 15:8 is the eighth verse in the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament.

Matthew 15:8
← 15:7
15:9 →
"The Pharisees and the Sadducees Come to Tempt Jesus" by James Tissot (between 1886 and 1894).
BookGospel of Matthew
Christian Bible partNew Testament

Content edit

In the original Greek according to Westcott-Hort for this verse is:

Ἐγγίζει μοι ὁ λαὸς οὗτος τῷ στόματι αὐτῶν, καὶ τοῖς χείλεσί με τιμᾷ, ἡ δὲ καρδία αὐτῶν πόρρω ἀπέχει ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ.

In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:

This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

The New International Version translates the passage as:

"'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

Analysis edit

This quotation is from Isaiah 29:13, according to the Septuagint: "This people approaches Me, with their mouth, and honours Me with their lips ; but their heart is far from Me." The phrase "approaches me" is understood as reverences me. This sense is captured by the KJV. The NIV uses a freer translation.[1][2]

Commentary from the Church Fathers edit

Saint Remigius: "For the Jewish nation seemed to draw near to God with their lips and mouth, inasmuch as they boasted that they held the worship of the One God; but in their hearts they departed from Him, because after they had seen His signs and miracles, they would neither acknowledge His divinity, nor receive Him."[3]

Rabanus Maurus: "Also, they honoured Him with their lips when they said, Master, we know that thou art true, (Mat. 22:16.) but their heart was far from Him when they sent spies to entangle Him in His talk."[3]

References edit

  1. ^ John MacEvilly, An Exposition of the Gospel of St. John consisting of an analysis of each chapter and of a Commentary critical, exegetical, doctrinal and moral, Dublin Gill & Son 1879.
  2. ^ Cornelius Cornelii a Lapide; Thomas Wimberly Mossman The great commentary of Cornelius à Lapide, London: J. Hodges, 1889-1896.
  3. ^ a b "Catena Aurea: commentary on the four Gospels; collected out of the works of the Fathers. Oxford: Parker, 1874. Thomas Aquinas".   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

External links edit

Preceded by
Matthew 15:7
Gospel of Matthew
Chapter 15
Succeeded by
Matthew 15:9