Matthew 15-16

Common English Bible

Rules from the elders

15 Then Pharisees and legal experts came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, ² “Why are your disciples breaking the elders’ rules handed down to us? They don’t ritually purify their hands by washing before they eat.”

³ Jesus replied, “Why do you break the command of God by keeping the rules handed down to you? ⁴ For God said, Honor your father and your mother,^[a] and The person who speaks against father or mother will certainly be put to death.^{[b] 5} But you say, ‘If you tell your father or mother, “Everything I’m expected to contribute to you I’m giving to God as a gift,”then you don’t have to honor your father.’ ⁶ So you do away with God’s Law for the sake of the rules that have been handed down to you. ⁷ Hypocrites! Isaiah really knew what he was talking about when he prophesied about you, ⁸ This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from me. ⁹ Their worship of me is empty since they teach instructions that are human rules.”^[c]

¹⁰ Jesus called the crowd near and said to them, “Listen and understand. ¹¹ It’s not what goes into the mouth that contaminates a person in God’s sight. It’s what comes out of the mouth that contaminates the person.”

¹² Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended by what you just said?”

¹³ Jesus replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father didn’t plant will be pulled up. ¹⁴ Leave the Pharisees alone. They are blind people who are guides to blind people. But if a blind person leads another blind person, they will both fall into a ditch.”

¹⁵ Then Peter spoke up, “Explain this riddle to us.”

¹⁶ Jesus said, “Don’t you understand yet? ¹⁷ Don’t you know that everything that goes into the mouth enters the stomach and goes out into the sewer? ¹⁸ But what goes out of the mouth comes from the heart. And that’s what contaminates a person in God’s sight. ¹⁹ Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adultery, sexual sins, thefts, false testimonies, and insults. ²⁰ These contaminate a person in God’s sight. But eating without washing hands doesn’t contaminate in God’s sight.”

Canaanite woman

²¹ From there, Jesus went to the regions of Tyre and Sidon. ²² A Canaanite woman from those territories came out and shouted, “Show me mercy, Son of David. My daughter is suffering terribly from demon possession.” ²³ But he didn’t respond to her at all.

His disciples came and urged him, “Send her away; she keeps shouting out after us.”

²⁴ Jesus replied, “I’ve been sent only to the lost sheep, the people of Israel.”

²⁵ But she knelt before him and said, “Lord, help me.”

²⁶ He replied, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and toss it to dogs.”

²⁷ She said, “Yes, Lord. But even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall off their masters’ table.”

²⁸ Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith. It will be just as you wish.” And right then her daughter was healed.

Healing of many people

²⁹ Jesus moved on from there along the shore of the Galilee Sea. He went up a mountain and sat down. ³⁰ Large crowds came to him, including those who were paralyzed, blind, injured, and unable to speak, and many others. They laid them at his feet, and he healed them. ³¹ So the crowd was amazed when they saw those who had been unable to speak talking, and the paralyzed cured, and the injured walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.

Feeding the four thousand

³² Now Jesus called his disciples and said, “I feel sorry for the crowd because they have been with me for three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry for fear they won’t have enough strength to travel.”

³³ His disciples replied, “Where are we going to get enough food in this wilderness to satisfy such a big crowd?”

³⁴ Jesus said, “How much bread do you have?”

They responded, “Seven loaves and a few fish.”

³⁵ He told the crowd to sit on the ground. ³⁶ He took the seven loaves of bread and the fish. After he gave thanks, he broke them into pieces and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ³⁷ Everyone ate until they were full. The disciples collected seven baskets full of leftovers. ³⁸ Four thousand men ate, plus women and children. ³⁹ After dismissing the crowds, Jesus got into the boat and came to the region of Magadan.

Demand for a sign

16 The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus. In order to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

² But he replied, “At evening you say, ‘It will be nice weather because the sky is bright red.’ ³ And in the morning you say, ‘There will be bad weather today because the sky is cloudy.’ You know how to make sense of the sky’s appearance. But you are unable to recognize the signs that point to what the time is. ⁴ An evil and unfaithful generation searches for a sign. But it won’t receive any sign except Jonah’s sign.” Then he left them and went away.

Yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees

⁵ When the disciples arrived on the other side of the lake, they had forgotten to bring bread. ⁶ Jesus said to them, “Watch out and be on your guard for the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

⁷ They discussed this among themselves and said, “We didn’t bring any bread.”

⁸ Jesus knew what they were discussing and said, “You people of weak faith! Why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you don’t have any bread? ⁹ Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves that fed the five thousand and how many baskets of leftovers you gathered? ¹⁰ And the seven loaves that fed the four thousand and how many large baskets of leftovers you gathered? ¹¹ Don’t you know that I wasn’t talking about bread? But be on your guard for the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ¹² Then they understood that he wasn’t telling them to be on their guard for yeast used in making bread. No, he was telling them to watch out for the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Peter’s declaration about Jesus

¹³ Now when Jesus came to the area of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Human One^[d] is?”

¹⁴ They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”

¹⁵ He said, “And what about you? Who do you say that I am?”

¹⁶ Simon Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

¹⁷ Then Jesus replied, “Happy are you, Simon son of Jonah, because no human has shown this to you. Rather my Father who is in heaven has shown you. ¹⁸ I tell you that you are Peter.^[e] And I’ll build my church on this rock. The gates of the underworld won’t be able to stand against it. ¹⁹ I’ll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Anything you fasten on earth will be fastened in heaven. Anything you loosen on earth will be loosened in heaven.” ²⁰ Then he ordered the disciples not to tell anybody that he was the Christ.

First prediction of Jesus’ death and resurrection

²¹ From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he had to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and legal experts, and that he had to be killed and raised on the third day. ²² Then Peter took hold of Jesus and, scolding him, began to correct him: “God forbid, Lord! This won’t happen to you.” ²³ But he turned to Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are a stone that could make me stumble, for you are not thinking God’s thoughts but human thoughts.”

Saving and losing life

²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. ²⁵ All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me will find them. ²⁶ Why would people gain the whole world but lose their lives? What will people give in exchange for their lives? ²⁷ For the Human One^[f] is about to come with the majesty of his Father with his angels. And then he will repay each one for what that person has done. ²⁸ I assure you that some standing here won’t die before they see the Human One^[g] coming in his kingdom.”