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Mark 7:2-13
They observed that some of His disciples were eating their bread with unclean— that is, unwashed— hands.( For the Pharisees, in fact all the Jews, will not eat unless they wash their hands ritually, keeping the tradition of the elders.When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they have washed. And there are many other customs they have received and keep, like the washing of cups, jugs, copper utensils, and dining couches.)Then the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him,“ Why don’t Your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders, instead of eating bread with ritually unclean hands?”He answered them,“ Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: These people honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.They worship Me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commands of men.Disregarding the command of God, you keep the tradition of men.”He also said to them,“ You completely invalidate God’s command in order to maintain your tradition!For Moses said: Honor your father and your mother; and Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.But you say,‘ If a man tells his father or mother: Whatever benefit you might have received from me is Corban’”( that is, a gift committed to the temple),“ you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother.You revoke God’s word by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many other similar things.”
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Jeremiah 12:2
You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their conscience.
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Ezekiel 33:31-33
So My people come to you in crowds, sit in front of you, and hear your words, but they don’t obey them. Although they express love with their mouths, their hearts pursue dishonest profit.Yes, to them you are like a singer of love songs who has a beautiful voice and plays skillfully on an instrument. They hear your words, but they don’t obey them.Yet when it comes— and it will definitely come— then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”
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Jeremiah 3:10
Yet in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah didn’t return to Me with all her heart— only in pretense.” This is the Lord’s declaration.
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Isaiah 58:2-3
They seek Me day after day and delight to know My ways, like a nation that does what is right and does not abandon the justice of their God. They ask Me for righteous judgments; they delight in the nearness of God.”“ Why have we fasted, but You have not seen? We have denied ourselves, but You haven’t noticed!”“ Look, you do as you please on the day of your fast, and oppress all your workers.
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Matthew 15:2-9
“ Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat!”He answered them,“ And why do you break God’s commandment because of your tradition?For God said: Honor your father and your mother; and, The one who speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.But you say,‘ Whoever tells his father or mother,“ Whatever benefit you might have received from me is a gift committed to the temple”—he does not have to honor his father.’ In this way, you have revoked God’s word because of your tradition.Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said:These people honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.They worship Me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commands of men.”
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Proverbs 30:6
Don’t add to His words, or He will rebuke you, and you will be proved a liar.
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Colossians 2:22
All these regulations refer to what is destroyed by being used up; they are commands and doctrines of men.
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Isaiah 48:1-2
“ Listen to this, house of Jacob— those who are called by the name Israel and have descended from Judah, who swear by the name of Yahweh and declare the God of Israel, but not in truth or righteousness.For they are named after the Holy City, and lean on the God of Israel; His name is Yahweh of Hosts.
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Jeremiah 42:20
You have led your own selves astray because you are the ones who sent me to the Lord your God, saying,‘ Pray to the Lord our God on our behalf, and as for all that the Lord our God says, tell it to us, and we’ll act accordingly.’
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Jeremiah 42:2-4
Jeremiah the prophet and said,“ May our petition come before you; pray to the Lord your God on our behalf, on behalf of this entire remnant( for few of us remain out of the many, as you can see with your own eyes),that the Lord your God may tell us the way we should walk and the thing we should do.”So Jeremiah the prophet said to them,“ I have heard. I will now pray to the Lord your God according to your words, and every word that the Lord answers you I will tell you; I won’t withhold a word from you.”
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Jeremiah 5:2
When they say,“ As the Lord lives,” they are swearing falsely.
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2 Chronicles 29 1-2 Chronicles 29 31
Hezekiah was 25 years old when he became king and reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah.He did what was right in the Lord’s sight just as his ancestor David had done.In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the Lord’s temple and repaired them.Then he brought in the priests and Levites and gathered them in the eastern public square.He said to them,“ Hear me, Levites. Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of Yahweh, the God of your ancestors. Remove everything impure from the holy place.For our fathers were unfaithful and did what is evil in the sight of the Lord our God. They abandoned Him, turned their faces away from the Lord’s tabernacle, and turned their backs on Him.They also closed the doors of the portico, extinguished the lamps, did not burn incense, and did not offer burnt offerings in the holy place of the God of Israel.Therefore, the wrath of the Lord was on Judah and Jerusalem, and He made them an object of terror, horror, and mockery, as you see with your own eyes.Our fathers fell by the sword, and our sons, our daughters, and our wives are in captivity because of this.It is in my heart now to make a covenant with Yahweh, the God of Israel so that His burning anger may turn away from us.My sons, don’t be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand in His presence, to serve Him, and to be His ministers and burners of incense.”Then the Levites stood up: Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah from the Kohathites; Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel from the Merarites; Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah from the Gershonites;Shimri and Jeuel from the Elizaphanites; Zechariah and Mattaniah from the Asaphites;Jehiel and Shimei from the Hemanites; Shemaiah and Uzziel from the Jeduthunites.They gathered their brothers together, consecrated themselves, and went according to the king’s command by the words of the Lord to cleanse the Lord’s temple.The priests went to the entrance of the Lord’s temple to cleanse it. They took all the unclean things they found in the Lord’s sanctuary to the courtyard of the Lord’s temple. Then the Levites received them and took them outside to the Kidron Valley.They began the consecration on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the portico of the Lord’s temple. They consecrated the Lord’s temple for eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished.Then they went inside to King Hezekiah and said,“ We have cleansed the whole temple of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the table for the rows of the bread of the Presence and all its utensils.We have set up and consecrated all the utensils that King Ahaz rejected during his reign when he became unfaithful. They are in front of the altar of the Lord.”King Hezekiah got up early, gathered the city officials, and went to the Lord’s temple.They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. Then he told the descendants of Aaron, the priests, to offer them on the altar of the Lord.So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests received the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. They slaughtered the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar. They slaughtered the lambs and sprinkled the blood on the altar.Then they brought the goats for the sin offering right into the presence of the king and the congregation, who laid their hands on them.The priests slaughtered the goats and put their blood on the altar for a sin offering, to make atonement for all Israel, for the king said that the burnt offering and sin offering were for all Israel.Hezekiah stationed the Levites in the Lord’s temple with cymbals, harps, and lyres according to the command of David, Gad the king’s seer, and Nathan the prophet. For the command was from the Lord through His prophets.The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.Then Hezekiah ordered that the burnt offering be offered on the altar. When the burnt offerings began, the song of the Lord and the trumpets began, accompanied by the instruments of David king of Israel.The whole assembly was worshiping, singing the song, and blowing the trumpets— all of this continued until the burnt offering was completed.When the burnt offerings were completed, the king and all those present with him bowed down and worshiped.Then King Hezekiah and the officials told the Levites to sing praise to the Lord in the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with rejoicing and bowed down and worshiped.Hezekiah concluded,“ Now you are consecrated to the Lord. Come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the Lord’s temple.” So the congregation brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all those with willing hearts brought burnt offerings.
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Psalms 17:1
Lord, hear a just cause; pay attention to my cry; listen to my prayer— from lips free of deceit.
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Isaiah 10:6
I will send him against a godless nation; I will command him to go against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils, to plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.
