Matthew 15
Christian Standard Bible
The Tradition of the Elders
15 Then(A) Jesus was approached by Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem, who asked,(B) 2 “Why do your disciples(C) break the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat.”[a](D)
3 He answered them, “Why do you break God’s commandment because of your tradition? 4 For God said:[b] Honor your father and your mother;[c](E) and, Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.[d](F) 5 But you say, ‘Whoever tells his father or mother, “Whatever benefit you might have received from me is a gift committed to the temple,” 6 he does not have to honor his father.’[e] In this way, you have nullified the word of God[f] because of your tradition. 7 Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said:
8 This people[g] honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me.
9 They worship me in vain,
teaching as doctrines human commands.”[h](G)
Defilement Is from Within
10 Summoning the crowd, he told them, “Listen and understand: 11 It’s not what goes into the mouth that defiles(H) a person, but what comes out of the mouth—this defiles a person.”(I)
12 Then the disciples came up and told him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?”
13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father didn’t plant will be uprooted.(J) 14 Leave them alone! They are blind guides.[i] And if the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”(K)
15 Then Peter said, “Explain this parable to us.”(L)
16 “Do you still lack understanding?” he[j] asked. 17 “Don’t you realize[k] that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated?[l] 18 But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this defiles a person.(M) 19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies,(N) slander.(O) 20 These are the things that defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person.”(P)
A Gentile Mother’s Faith
21 When Jesus left there,(Q) he withdrew to the area of Tyre and Sidon.(R) 22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out,[m] “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely tormented by a demon.”(S)
23 Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples(T) approached him and urged him, “Send her away because she’s crying out after us.”
24 He replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”(U)
25 But she came, knelt before him, and said, “Lord, help me!”
26 He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”(V)
27 “Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
28 Then Jesus replied to her, “Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want.” And from that moment[n] her daughter was healed.(W)
Healing Many People
29 Moving on from there,(X) Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee.(Y) He went up on a mountain and sat there, 30 and large crowds came to him, including the lame, the blind, the crippled, those unable to speak, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he healed them. 31 So the crowd was amazed when they saw those unable to speak talking, the crippled restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing,(Z) and they gave glory to the God of Israel.
Feeding of the Four Thousand
32 Jesus called his disciples and said,(AA) “I have compassion on the crowd, because they’ve already stayed with me three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, otherwise they might collapse on the way.”
33 The disciples said to him, “Where could we get enough bread in this desolate place(AB) to feed such a crowd?”
34 “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked them.
“Seven,” they said, “and a few small fish.”
35 After commanding the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36 he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.(AC) 37 They all ate and were satisfied. They collected the leftover pieces—seven large baskets full. 38 Now there were four thousand men who had eaten, besides women and children. 39 After dismissing the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.[o](AD)
Footnotes
- 15:2 Lit eat bread = eat a meal
- 15:4 Other mss read commanded, saying
- 15:4 Ex 20:12; Dt 5:16
- 15:4 Ex 21:17; Lv 20:9
- 15:6 Other mss read then he does not have to honor his father or mother
- 15:6 Other mss read commandment
- 15:8 Other mss add draw near to me with their mouths, and
- 15:8–9 Is 29:13 LXX
- 15:14 Other mss add for the blind
- 15:16 Other mss read Jesus
- 15:17 Other mss add yet
- 15:17 Lit and goes out into the toilet
- 15:22 Other mss read and cried out to him
- 15:28 Lit hour
- 15:39 Other mss read Magdala
Matthew 15
The Message
What Pollutes Your Life
15 1-2 After that, Pharisees and religion scholars came to Jesus all the way from Jerusalem, criticizing, “Why do your disciples play fast and loose with the rules?”
3-9 But Jesus put it right back on them. “Why do you use your rules to play fast and loose with God’s commands? God clearly says, ‘Respect your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone denouncing father or mother should be killed.’ But you weasel around that by saying, ‘Whoever wants to, can say to father and mother, What I owed to you I’ve given to God.’ That can hardly be called respecting a parent. You cancel God’s command by your rules. Frauds! Isaiah’s prophecy of you hit the bull’s-eye:
These people make a big show of saying the right thing,
but their heart isn’t in it.
They act like they’re worshiping me,
but they don’t mean it.
They just use me as a cover
for teaching whatever suits their fancy.”
10-11 He then called the crowd together and said, “Listen, and take this to heart. It’s not what you swallow that pollutes your life, but what you vomit up.”
12 Later his disciples came and told him, “Did you know how upset the Pharisees were when they heard what you said?”
13-14 Jesus shrugged it off. “Every tree that wasn’t planted by my Father in heaven will be pulled up by its roots. Forget them. They are blind men leading blind men. When a blind man leads a blind man, they both end up in the ditch.”
15 Peter said, “I don’t get it. Put it in plain language.”
16-20 Jesus replied, “You, too? Are you being willfully stupid? Don’t you know that anything that is swallowed works its way through the intestines and is finally defecated? But what comes out of the mouth gets its start in the heart. It’s from the heart that we vomit up evil arguments, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, lies, and cussing. That’s what pollutes. Eating or not eating certain foods, washing or not washing your hands—that’s neither here nor there.”
Healing the People
21-22 From there Jesus took a trip to Tyre and Sidon. They had hardly arrived when a Canaanite woman came down from the hills and pleaded, “Mercy, Master, Son of David! My daughter is cruelly afflicted by an evil spirit.”
23 Jesus ignored her. The disciples came and complained, “Now she’s bothering us. Would you please take care of her? She’s driving us crazy.”
24 Jesus refused, telling them, “I’ve got my hands full dealing with the lost sheep of Israel.”
25 Then the woman came back to Jesus, dropped to her knees, and begged. “Master, help me.”
26 He said, “It’s not right to take bread out of children’s mouths and throw it to dogs.”
27 She was quick: “You’re right, Master, but beggar dogs do get scraps from the master’s table.”
28 Jesus gave in. “Oh, woman, your faith is something else. What you want is what you get!” Right then her daughter became well.
29-31 After Jesus returned, he walked along Lake Galilee and then climbed a mountain and took his place, ready to receive visitors. They came, tons of them, bringing along the paraplegic, the blind, the maimed, the mute—all sorts of people in need—and more or less threw them down at Jesus’ feet to see what he would do with them. He healed them. When the people saw the mutes speaking, the maimed healthy, the paraplegics walking around, the blind looking around, they were astonished and let everyone know that God was blazingly alive among them.
* * *
32 But Jesus wasn’t finished with them. He called his disciples and said, “I hurt for these people. For three days now they’ve been with me, and now they have nothing to eat. I can’t send them away without a meal—they’d probably collapse on the road.”
33 His disciples said, “But where in this deserted place are you going to dig up enough food for a meal?”
34-39 Jesus asked, “How much bread do you have?”
“Seven loaves,” they said, “plus a few fish.” At that, Jesus directed the people to sit down. He took the seven loaves and the fish. After giving thanks, he divided it up and gave it to the people. Everyone ate. They had all they wanted. It took seven large baskets to collect the leftovers. Over four thousand people ate their fill at that meal. After Jesus sent them away, he climbed in the boat and crossed over to the Magadan hills.
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Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson