And he said to them: Well do you make void the commandment of God, that you may keep your own tradition.

And he said to them, Well do ye set aside the commandment of God, that ye may observe what is delivered by yourselves to keep.

And he said to them, 'Well do ye put away the command of God that your tradition ye may keep;

"Praiseworthy indeed!" He added, "to set at nought God's Commandment in order to observe your own traditions!

And he said to them, Truly you put on one side the law of God, so that you may keep the rules which have been handed down to you.

And he said to them: "You effectively nullify the precept of God, so that you may observe your own tradition.

Wisely do you set aside God's commandments," he exclaimed, "to keep your own traditions!

Full well - These words are capable of different interpretations. Some read them as a question: "Do ye do well in rejecting?" etc. Others suppose they mean "skillfully, cunningly." "You show great cunning or art, in laying aside God's commands and substituting in their place those of men." Others suppose them to be ironical. "How nobly you act! From conscientious attachment to your traditions you have made void the law of God;" meaning to intimate by it that they had acted wickedly and basely.

Full well - Καλως, - a strong irony. How noble is your conduct! From conscientious attachment to your own traditions ye have annihilated the commandments of God!
That ye may keep - But στησητε, that ye may establish, is the reading of D, three others, Syriac, all the Itala, with Cyprian, Jerome, and Zeno. Griesbach thinks it should be received instead of the other. God's law was nothing to these men, in comparison of their own: hear a case in point. "Rabba said, How foolish are most men! They observe the precepts of the Divine law, and neglect the statutes of the rabbins!" Maccoth, fol. 22.

(5) And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
(5) True religion, which is completely contrary to superstition, consists in spiritual worship: and all enemies of true religion, although they seem to have taken deep root, will be plucked up.

And he said unto them,.... He continued his discourse, saying,
full well, or "fairly",
ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition: these words may be considered, as spoken ironically, thus; as pious and excellently good men, you in a very fair and handsome manner, reject and make void the commandments and laws of God; and it is very fit it should be so, in order to preserve your own traditions, that nothing may be wanting to keep up the honour of them, and a due regard to them. The Arabic version reads the words by way of interrogation, "is it fit that you should omit the commandments of God, and keep your own statutes?" and so the Ethiopic, "do ye rightly make void the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own commandment?" Which makes them come nearer to the passage in Matthew; See Gill on Matthew 15:3.