And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee [as] my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, [but] their heart goeth after their covetousness.
Ver. 31. And they come unto thee.] Very goodly.
And they sit before thee.] Very demurely, and, to see to, devoutly, taking up all the seats.
They hear thy words.] But they were as heartless in hearing, as they were listless in praying. Eze 33:10
They will not do them.] Of the Athenians also it was said of old, that they knew well what was good and right, but would do neither.
Their heart goeth after their covetousness.] Their heart is on their halfpenny, as we say; neither can the loadstone of God's Word hale them one jot from the earth. It should be Sursum corda; up from the heart, but when many men's bodies are in sacculis, in their purse, their hearts are in sacculis, in their purse, as Augustine complaineth; as serpents have their bodies in the water, their heads out of the water, so here; as those Gergesites, they more mind a swine sty than a sanctuary. a
a Haram domesticam arae Dominicae praefer.