Isaiah 29:1-18; Matthew 15:1-9; Mark 7:7

Isaiah 29:1-18

1 Ho Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts run their round.

2 Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be moaning and lamentation, and she shall be to me like an Ariel.

3 And I will encamp against you round about, and will besiege you with towers and I will raise siegeworks against you.

4 Then deep from the earth you shall speak, from low in the dust your words shall come; your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.

5 But the multitude of your foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff. And in an instant, suddenly,

6 you will be visited by the LORD of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.

7 And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her, shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.

8 As when a hungry man dreams he is eating and awakes with his hunger not satisfied, or as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched, so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion.

9 Stupefy yourselves and be in a stupor, blind yourselves and be blind! Be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not with strong drink!

10 For the LORD has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, the prophets, and covered your heads, the seers.

11 And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, "Read this," he says, "I cannot, for it is sealed."

12 And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, "Read this," he says, "I cannot read."

13 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 of men learned by rote;

14 therefore, behold, I will again do marvelous things with this people, wonderful and marvelous; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hid."

15 Woe to those who hide deep from the LORD their counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, "Who sees us? Who knows us?"

16 You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay; that the thing made should say of its maker, "He did not make me"; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding"?

17 Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?

18 In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.

Matthew 15:1-9

1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said,

2 "Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat."

3 He answered them, "And why do you transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?

4 For God commanded, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die.'

5 But you say, 'If any one tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is given to God, he need not honor his father.'

6 So, for the sake of your tradition, you have made void the word of God.

7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

8 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;

9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'"

Mark 7:7

7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'