Isaiah 29:13
Commandments of Men
Doctrine shiftedQuoted by the apostles in Matthew 15:8–9; Mark 7:6–7, in the older Greek wording
Messiah’s sharpest words against tradition come from a line the later Hebrew words more gently.
Side by Side
The Older Text
Septuagint, translated before Messiah
And the Lord has said, This people draw nigh to me with their mouth, and they honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me: but in vain do they worship me, teaching the commandments and doctrines of men.
The Later Text
Masoretic, finished about 1,000 years after the cross
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.
Quoted in Matthew 15:8–9
Messiah answers the Pharisees
This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Your KJV reads: the Hebrew in Isaiah, and the Greek when Messiah quotes it in Matthew and Mark.
See what changed and why ↓What Your Bible Says
But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Matthew 15:9 KJV
The Pharisees had come from Jerusalem to complain that the disciples did not wash their hands before eating, as “the tradition of the elders” required (Matthew 15:2). Messiah answered with Isaiah.
What the Jewish Bible Says
Their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.
Isaiah 29:13 KJV
In the Hebrew, the people’s fear of Yahuah is something learned by rote from men. The words “in vain” are not there, and neither is the charge of teaching men’s commandments as doctrine.
What Changed
Both texts say the people honor Yahuah with their lips while their heart is far away. The difference is the verdict. The Greek says the worship itself is empty, because men’s commandments are being taught in place of His. The later Hebrew says only that their fear was learned from men.
Which Commandments He Rebuked
Messiah did not rebuke the commandments of Yahuah. He defended them. “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?” (Matthew 15:3). Their tradition let a man give his parents’ support to the temple and walk away free, voiding the fifth commandment: “Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition” (Matthew 15:6).
This verse is often turned upside down today, as if Messiah were calling the Sabbath or the food laws “commandments of men.” Those came from Yahuah’s own mouth. What Messiah rebuked was the handwashing rule and every other tradition that set His Law aside (Mark 7:8–9).
Which One Is Right?
The Greek Bible, translated before Messiah, has “in vain” and “commandments and doctrines of men.”
Messiah quoted that wording in Matthew 15 and again in Mark 7.
The Masoretic text has the milder line about fear taught by men.
Purpose of the Change
The effect of the later wording is a softer verdict on religion built on tradition, the very system Messiah exposed with this verse. That softer line likely sat more easily with a later Judaism that made the tradition of the elders binding.
The Bottom Line
Messiah quoted the Greek: worship built on men’s commandments is vain. Yahuah’s commandments stand.
At the end, Yahuah’s people are marked by His commandments, not men’s: “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Yahushua” (Revelation 14:12).
Dig Deeper The evidence, for anyone who wants it
Learned by Rote
The Hebrew phrase reads, word for word, “a commandment of men, learned.” It pictures a fear of Yahuah that is memorized from teachers rather than born in the heart. That is a real rebuke too, but it stops short of calling the worship worthless.
Washing Hands
The Torah never commands ordinary Israelites to wash their hands before bread. The rule came from the elders. Messiah’s disciples broke a tradition, not a commandment, and Messiah said so: “ye hold the tradition of men” (Mark 7:8).
Plants Not Planted
When told the Pharisees were offended, Messiah said, “Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up” (Matthew 15:13). The Father planted His Law. Men planted the tradition. Only one of them is rooted up.
The Next Verse
Isaiah goes on: “the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid” (Isaiah 29:14). The rebuke falls on the teachers who replaced Yahuah’s word with their own.
An Honest Note
The Greek may be a freer rendering of the same Hebrew thought rather than a witness to different Hebrew letters. Both texts condemn the commandments of men. What is certain is that Messiah chose the sharper Greek wording, and He aimed it at tradition, never at the Torah.