Clean and Unclean
‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Matthew 15:8 · Berean Standard Bible
The quote from Isaiah cuts deep: these people say all the right things but their hearts are far from God. Words without heart mean nothing to Him.
You can say all the right prayers and attend every service, but God is looking at your heart. He wants genuine love, not polished performance.
Isaiah's prophetic words are quoted by Jesus against the religious leaders.
This ancient diagnosis still applies today. God has always cared more about the state of your heart than the perfection of your rituals.
The Isaiah quotation (29:13 LXX) identifies the core problem: lip service (cheilē) without heart devotion (kardia). The distinction between external conformity and internal reality is central to Jesus' ethical teaching.
The heart (kardia) in Hebrew thought represents the seat of will, intellect, and intention, not merely emotion. A heart 'far from' God indicates a fundamental misalignment of purpose.
Jesus quotes Isaiah, who spoke God's words about Israel's superficial worship.
Through Isaiah's ancient words, God's complaint is revealed: His people perform religion beautifully while their hearts belong elsewhere.
6he need not honor his father or mother with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
7You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you:
8‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.
9They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’”
10Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, “Listen and understand.
Read all of Matthew 15 — Jesus dismantles the purity codes the Pharisees have built and shows that what defiles a person comes from within, not without.
This page covers one. BibleKey does all 31,102 — tap any verse for its meaning, any word for its Hebrew or Greek root, and keep reading without leaving the chapter.
NIV, NLT, NKJV, KJV and the Berean — plus the Catholic NLT-CE and Douay-Rheims, with the full deuterocanon in the reading order.
Tap any of the 31,102 for what it means, and any word for its Hebrew or Greek root, without leaving the chapter.
Start recording at church and put your phone away. You get the transcript, the key moments, and every verse referenced.
Say what's sitting on your heart and hear it back as a real prayer, in a warm voice. Keep the ones that land.
The whole Bible in a year — five chapters a day, five days a week, weekends off. Built to be finished.
A verse each morning with its meaning, how it lands today, something to sit with, and a prayer to close it.
Not just the famous ones. BibleKey is free on iPhone and iPad.
Download on the App StoreFree on iPhone & iPad