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.

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.

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.

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,

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 noticed that some of his disciples failed to follow the Jewish ritual of hand washing before eating.( The Jews, especially the Pharisees, do not eat until they have poured water over their cupped hands, as required by their ancient traditions.Similarly, they don’t eat anything from the market until they immerse their hands in water. This is but one of many traditions they have clung to— such as their ceremonial washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.)So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him,“ Why don’t your disciples follow our age old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand washing ceremony.”Jesus replied,“ You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,‘ These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.Their worship is a farce, for they teach man made ideas as commands from God.’For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.”Then he said,“ You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition.For instance, Moses gave you this law from God:‘ Honor your father and mother,’ and‘ Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents,‘ Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’In this way, you let them disregard their needy parents.And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others.”

You have planted them, and they have taken root and prospered. Your name is on their lips, but you are far from their hearts.

So my people come pretending to be sincere and sit before you. They listen to your words, but they have no intention of doing what you say. Their mouths are full of lustful words, and their hearts seek only after money.You are very entertaining to them, like someone who sings love songs with a beautiful voice or plays fine music on an instrument. They hear what you say, but they don’t act on it!But when all these terrible things happen to them— as they certainly will— then they will know a prophet has been among them.”

But despite all this, her faithless sister Judah has never sincerely returned to me. She has only pretended to be sorry. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

Yet they act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to learn all about me. They act like a righteous nation that would never abandon the laws of its God. They ask me to take action on their behalf, pretending they want to be near me.‘ We have fasted before you!’ they say.‘ Why aren’t you impressed? We have been very hard on ourselves, and you don’t even notice it!’“ I will tell you why!” I respond.“ It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves. Even while you fast, you keep oppressing your workers.

“ Why do your disciples disobey our age old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.”Jesus replied,“ And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God?For instance, God says,‘ Honor your father and mother,’ and‘ Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents,‘ Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition.You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,‘ These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.Their worship is a farce, for they teach man made ideas as commands from God.’”

Do not add to his words, or he may rebuke you and expose you as a liar.

Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them.

“ Listen to me, O family of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel and born into the family of Judah. Listen, you who take oaths in the name of the Lord and call on the God of Israel. You don’t keep your promises,even though you call yourself the holy city and talk about depending on the God of Israel, whose name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

For you were not being honest when you sent me to pray to the Lord your God for you. You said,‘ Just tell us what the Lord our God says, and we will do it!’

Jeremiah the prophet. They said,“ Please pray to the Lord your God for us. As you can see, we are only a tiny remnant compared to what we were before.Pray that the Lord your God will show us what to do and where to go.”“ All right,” Jeremiah replied.“ I will pray to the Lord your God, as you have asked, and I will tell you everything he says. I will hide nothing from you.”

But even when they are under oath, saying,‘ As surely as the Lord lives,’ they are still telling lies!”

Hezekiah was twenty five years old when he became the king of Judah, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty nine years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, just as his ancestor David had done.In the very first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah reopened the doors of the Temple of the Lord and repaired them.He summoned the priests and Levites to meet him at the courtyard east of the Temple.He said to them,“ Listen to me, you Levites! Purify yourselves, and purify the Temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove all the defiled things from the sanctuary.Our ancestors were unfaithful and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God. They abandoned the Lord and his dwelling place; they turned their backs on him.They also shut the doors to the Temple’s entry room, and they snuffed out the lamps. They stopped burning incense and presenting burnt offerings at the sanctuary of the God of Israel.“ That is why the Lord’s anger has fallen upon Judah and Jerusalem. He has made them an object of dread, horror, and ridicule, as you can see with your own eyes.Because of this, our fathers have been killed in battle, and our sons and daughters and wives have been captured.But now I will make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger will turn away from us.My sons, do not neglect your duties any longer! The Lord has chosen you to stand in his presence, to minister to him, and to lead the people in worship and present offerings to him.”Then these Levites got right to work: From the clan of Kohath: Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah. From the clan of Merari: Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel. From the clan of Gershon: Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah.From the family of Elizaphan: Shimri and Jeiel. From the family of Asaph: Zechariah and Mattaniah.From the family of Heman: Jehiel and Shimei. From the family of Jeduthun: Shemaiah and Uzziel.These men called together their fellow Levites, and they all purified themselves. Then they began to cleanse the Temple of the Lord, just as the king had commanded. They were careful to follow all the Lord’s instructions in their work.The priests went into the sanctuary of the Temple of the Lord to cleanse it, and they took out to the Temple courtyard all the defiled things they found. From there the Levites carted it all out to the Kidron Valley.They began the work in early spring, on the first day of the new year, and in eight days they had reached the entry room of the Lord’s Temple. Then they purified the Temple of the Lord itself, which took another eight days. So the entire task was completed in sixteen days.Then the Levites went to King Hezekiah and gave him this report:“ We have cleansed the entire Temple of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the table of the Bread of the Presence with all its utensils.We have also recovered all the items discarded by King Ahaz when he was unfaithful and closed the Temple. They are now in front of the altar of the Lord, purified and ready for use.”Early the next morning King Hezekiah gathered the city officials and went to the Temple of the Lord.They brought seven bulls, seven rams, and seven male lambs as a burnt offering, together with seven male goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, for the Temple, and for Judah. The king commanded the priests, who were descendants of Aaron, to sacrifice the animals on the altar of the Lord.So they killed the bulls, and the priests took the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. Next they killed the rams and sprinkled their blood on the altar. And finally, they did the same with the male lambs.The male goats for the sin offering were then brought before the king and the assembly of people, who laid their hands on them.The priests then killed the goats as a sin offering and sprinkled their blood on the altar to make atonement for the sins of all Israel. The king had specifically commanded that this burnt offering and sin offering should be made for all Israel.King Hezekiah then stationed the Levites at the Temple of the Lord with cymbals, lyres, and harps. He obeyed all the commands that the Lord had given to King David through Gad, the king’s seer, and the prophet Nathan.The Levites then took their positions around the Temple with the instruments of David, and the priests took their positions with the trumpets.Then Hezekiah ordered that the burnt offering be placed on the altar. As the burnt offering was presented, songs of praise to the Lord were begun, accompanied by the trumpets and other instruments of David, the former king of Israel.The entire assembly worshiped the Lord as the singers sang and the trumpets blew, until all the burnt offerings were finished.Then the king and everyone with him bowed down in worship.King Hezekiah and the officials ordered the Levites to praise the Lord with the psalms written by David and by Asaph the seer. So they offered joyous praise and bowed down in worship.Then Hezekiah declared,“ Now that you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord, bring your sacrifices and thanksgiving offerings to the Temple of the Lord.” So the people brought their sacrifices and thanksgiving offerings, and all whose hearts were willing brought burnt offerings, too.

O Lord, hear my plea for justice. Listen to my cry for help. Pay attention to my prayer, for it comes from honest lips.

I am sending Assyria against a godless nation, against a people with whom I am angry. Assyria will plunder them, trampling them like dirt beneath its feet.