In verses 7-9 Jesus characterizes the hypocrisy of the Pharisees by means of a quotation from Isaiah 29.13. The quotation agrees quite closely with the Septuagint, which is significantly different from the wording of the Hebrew.

Hypocrites was first used in 6.2. The important thing here is to use a word or expression that is terse and forcible, something that can be said to someone to accuse them. “You people who pretend to be one thing but are really another” simply would be too awkward in this context. “You pretenders!” or “You fakers!” is better, although if necessary translators can use two phrases, such as “You people! You pretend one thing and do the opposite!”

Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said is translated in Jerusalem Bible as “It was you Isaiah meant when he so rightly prophesied”; New English Bible has “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you.”

Prophesy is the verb related to “prophet,” which we discussed at 1.22. “To speak God’s message” or “speak for God” are common ways of translating it. In this verse translators can say “Isaiah was right when he gave God’s word about you” or “When Isaiah gave this message from God, he was certainly talking about you. He said….”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .