What Does Matthew 15:7 Mean in the King James?
Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse names devotion as a performance when the heart is elsewhere, and Isaiah’s words expose the gap.
THE MEANING
Here the reader meets a sharp name for devotion that has become a performance: the mouth speaks honor while the heart remains far from God. Isaiah’s words fit that divide, naming the condition present in the hearer.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Reverent language alone proves that the heart is near to God.
THE ROOT
ὑποκριταί
hypokritai
GROWS FROM
ὑποκρίνομαι
hypokrinomai
To act a part or pretend; the related noun can mean an actor and, by extension, a pretender.
“hypocrites” in this verse is hypokritai. The Greek word names a performed identity, not merely a mistake or weakness. Beside Isaiah’s words, it exposes public language staged as devotion while the heart is elsewhere.
ALSO GROWS
hypokrisis: Acting, pretense, or hypocrisy.
ὑπόκρισις
It shows that the charge concerns a performed display, matching the gap between spoken honor and inward distance.
hypokritēs: An actor or pretender.
ὑποκριτής
The actor image reveals how religious words can take on a role that does not express the heart.
ἐπροφήτευσεν
eprophēteusen
GROWS FROM
φημί (phēmi), within προφητεύω (prophēteuō)
φημί (phēmi) means to say or speak; the compound carries the sense of speaking forth.
“prophesy” in this verse is eprophēteusen. The word family joins the act of prophesying with the prophet and the prophetic utterance. Here prophecy speaks directly to the condition in view, exposing the distance between a person’s words and heart.
ALSO GROWS
prophētēs: A prophet, one who speaks a message.
προφήτης
The prophet gives voice to what is hidden beneath outward appearance.
prophēteia: Prophecy or a prophetic utterance.
προφητεία
It connects the speaking in this verse to a message that reveals the hearer’s inward condition.
THE PATTERN
Religious speech loses its truth when outward honor separates from inward allegiance.
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:Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.THE THREAD
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:Matthew names Isaiah as the speech that fits this moment; Isaiah spells out the divide compressed in “hypocrites”: lips approach while the heart is far away. The prophecy exposes inward distance that is present beneath outward honor.
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