Matthew 15
21st Century King James Version
15 Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, who were from Jerusalem, saying,
2 “Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread.”
3 But He answered and said unto them, “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
4 For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor thy father and mother,’ and, ‘He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.’
5 But ye say that whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, ‘by whatsoever thou might have profited by me, it is a gift,’
6 and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.
7 Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,
8 ‘This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.
9 But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.’”
10 And He called the multitude and said unto them, “Hear and understand:
11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.”
12 Then came His disciples and said unto Him, “Knowest Thou that the Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying?”
13 But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up.
14 Let them alone; they are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.”
15 Then answered Peter and said unto Him, “Explain to us this parable.”
16 And Jesus said, “Are ye also yet without understanding?
17 Do ye not yet understand that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the drain?
18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man.
19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
20 these are the things which defile a man. But to eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man.”
21 Then Jesus went thence and departed into the region of Tyre and Sidon.
22 And behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same region and cried unto Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son of David! My daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.”
23 But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and besought Him, saying, “Send her away, for she crieth after us.”
24 But He answered and said, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
25 Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord help me.”
26 But He answered and said, “It is not meet to take children’s bread and cast it to dogs.”
27 And she said, “Truth, Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”
28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, “O woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee even as thou wilt.” And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
29 And Jesus departed from thence and came nigh unto the Sea of Galilee, and went up onto a mountain and sat down there.
30 And great multitudes came unto Him, having with them those who were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them,
31 insomuch that the multitude wondered when they saw the dumb to speak, and the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see. And they glorified the God of Israel.
32 Then Jesus called His disciples unto Him and said, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with Me now three days and have had nothing to eat; and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint on the way.”
33 And His disciples said unto Him, “From whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness as to fill so great a multitude?”
34 And Jesus said unto them, “How many loaves have ye?” And they said, “Seven, and a few little fishes.”
35 And He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.
36 And He took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and broke them and gave to His disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.
37 And they all ate and were filled. And they took up of the broken pieces that were left, seven baskets full.
38 And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.
39 And He sent away the multitude, and took the boat and went into the coasts of Magdala.
Matthew 15
Complete Jewish Bible
15 Then some P’rushim and Torah-teachers from Yerushalayim came to Yeshua and asked him, 2 “Why is it that your talmidim break the Tradition of the Elders? They don’t do n’tilat-yadayim before they eat!” 3 He answered, “Indeed, why do you break the command of God by your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’[a] and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’[b] 5 But you say, ‘If anyone says to his father or mother, “I have promised to give to God what I might have used to help you,” 6 then he is rid of his duty to honor his father or mother.’ Thus by your tradition you make null and void the word of God! 7 You hypocrites! Yesha‘yahu was right when he prophesied about you,
8 ‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far away from me.
9 Their worship of me is useless,
because they teach man-made rules as if they were doctrines.’”[c]
10 Then he called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand this! 11 What makes a person unclean is not what goes into his mouth; rather, what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him unclean!”
12 The talmidim came to him and said, “Do you know that the P’rushim were offended by what you said?” 13 He replied, “Every plant that my Father in heaven has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Let them be. They are blind guides. When a blind man guides another blind man, both will fall in a pit.”
15 Kefa said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” 16 So he said, “Don’t you understand even now? 17 Don’t you see that anything that enters the mouth goes into the stomach and passes out into the latrine? 18 But what comes out of your mouth is actually coming from your heart, and that is what makes a person unclean. 19 For out of the heart come forth wicked thoughts, murder, adultery and other kinds of sexual immorality, theft, lies, slanders. . . . 20 These are what really make a person unclean, but eating without doing n’tilat-yadayim does not make a person unclean.”
21 Yeshua left that place and went off to the region of Tzor and Tzidon. 22 A woman from Kena‘an who was living there came to him, pleading, “Sir, have pity on me. Son of David! My daughter is cruelly held under the power of demons!” 23 But Yeshua did not say a word to her. Then his talmidim came to him and urged him, “Send her away, because she is following us and keeps pestering us with her crying.” 24 He said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Isra’el.” 25 But she came, fell at his feet and said, “Sir, help me!” 26 He answered, “It is not right to take the children’s food and toss it to their pet dogs.” 27 She said, “That is true, sir, but even the dogs eat the leftovers that fall from their master’s table.” 28 Then Yeshua answered her, “Lady, you are a person of great trust. Let your desire be granted.” And her daughter was healed at that very moment.
29 Yeshua left there and went along the shore of Lake Kinneret. He climbed a hill and sat down; 30 and large crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others. They laid them at his feet, and he healed them. 31 The people were amazed as they saw mute people speaking, crippled people cured, lame people walking and blind people seeing; and they said a b’rakhah to the God of Isra’el.
32 Yeshua called his talmidim to him and said, “I feel sorry for these people, because they have been with me three days, and now they have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, because they might collapse on the way home.” 33 The talmidim said to him, “Where will we find enough loaves of bread in this remote place to satisfy so big a crowd?” 34 Yeshua asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few fish.” 35 After telling the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36 he took the seven loaves and the fish, made a b’rakhah, broke the loaves and gave them to the talmidim, who gave them to the people. 37 Everyone ate his fill, and they took seven large baskets full of the leftover pieces. 38 Those eating numbered four thousand men, plus women and children. 39 After sending the crowd away, he got in the boat and went off to the region of Magadan.
Footnotes
- Matthew 15:4 Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16
- Matthew 15:4 Exodus 21:17; Leviticus 20:9
- Matthew 15:9 Isaiah 29:13
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