That Which Defiles^(A)

15 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, ² “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”^(B)

³ Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴ For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’^[a](C) and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’^{[b](D) 5} But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ ⁶ they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. ⁷ You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:

¹⁰ Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. ¹¹ What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them,^(G) but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”^(H)

¹² After this he went down to Capernaum^(A) with his mother^(B) and brothers^(C) and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.

Jesus Clears the Temple Courts^(D)

¹³ When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover,^(E) Jesus went up to Jerusalem.^{(F) 14} In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves,^(G) and others sitting at tables exchanging money.^{(H) 15} So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶ To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house^(I) into a market!” ¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”^[a](J)

¹⁸ The Jews^(K) then responded to him, “What sign^(L) can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”^(M)

¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”^(N)

²⁰ They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” ²¹ But the temple he had spoken of was his body.^{(O) 22} After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said.^(P) Then they believed the scripture^(Q) and the words that Jesus had spoken.

²³ Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival,^(R) many people saw the signs^(S) he was performing and believed^(T) in his name.^{[b] 24} But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. ²⁵ He did not need any testimony about mankind,^(U) for he knew what was in each person.^(V)