15:8a
These people: When Isaiah originally spoke these words, the phrase This people referred to the Jewish people of that time. Jesus said that the Pharisees were also the people whom Isaiah had spoken about.
In some languages it may be natural to translate this phrase as:
You (plur.) people
-or-
All of you (Contemporary English Version)
honor Me with their lips: The phrase honor Me with their lips is a figure of speech called a metonymy. In this figure of speech, the phrase their lips stands for “their words.” This means that the Pharisees honored/praised God with their words.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
• Substitute a similar figure of speech. For example:
praise me with their mouths
• Omit the figure of speech and express the meaning directly. For example:
honor me when they talk
-or-
show honor to me with words (New Century Version)
This clause indicates that the honor is hypocritical. If people in your area will think that the honor is real, you may want to add some implied information. For example:
⌊pretend to⌋ honor me with their words
me: Jesus was quoting from the book of Isaiah, which was quoting the words of God. So the pronoun me refers to God. In some languages it may be necessary to use indirect speech in order to make this clear. For example:
⌊in which God⌋ said that those people honored him with their lips/words
15:8b
their hearts: In the New Testament, the word heart refers to the mind, emotions, and will of a person. It refers to the part of a person that he uses to think, feel, and make decisions.
In some languages people refer to this part of a person as the thoughts, mind, throat, liver, or stomach. They are not referring literally to that physical part of the body.
Your language may use a word other than the heart to talk about the center of emotions. In that case, you should use that word instead of “heart.”
are far from Me: The words far from me are a figurative expression that means that the people had turned away from God. They had turned away in the following ways:
(a) They turned away with their minds and so they did not think of God.
(b) They turned away with their will and so they did not obey God.
(c) They turned away with their emotions and so they did not love God.
In your translation, try to find an expression that implies or suggests all of these things.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
but their minds/livers/stomachs are far from me
-or-
but in their hearts/throats/thoughts, they have turned away from me
-or-
but they do not mean what they say
If one term expresses only part of the meaning, you may be able to use a combination of terms. For example:
they do not truly love me or think about me
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