Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 15:8

"This people honoreth me with their lips; But their heart is far from me." — Matthew 15:8 (ASV)

This people draweth nigh unto me — The quotation is given substantially from the Greek version of Isaiah. We have already seen in Matthew 13:14 how the Pharisees were taught to see their own likeness in the language of the prophet. Now the mirror is held up once more, and they are seen to have been anticipated in that very substitution of human for divine ordinances for which our Lord reproves them.