God’s Commandments, Man’s Traditions

7 ^(A)And the Pharisees and some of the scribes *gathered around Him when they had come ^(B)from Jerusalem, ² and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with ^(C)defiled hands, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they ^[a]carefully wash their hands, thus observing the ^(D)tradition of the elders; ⁴ and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they ^[b]wash themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of ^(E)cups and pitchers and copper pots.) ⁵ And the Pharisees and the scribes *asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the ^(F)tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with ^(G)defiled hands?” ⁶ And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

⁸ Leaving the commandment of God, you hold to the ^(J)tradition of men.”

⁹ And He was also saying to them, “You are good at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your ^(K)tradition. ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘^(L)Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘^(M)He who speaks evil of father or mother, is to ^[c]be put to death’; ¹¹ but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever you might benefit from me is ^(N)Corban (that is to say, ^[d]given to God),’ ¹² you no longer leave him to do anything for his father or his mother; ¹³ thus invalidating the word of God by your ^(O)tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”

The Heart of Man

¹⁴ And after He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵ there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. ^16 [e][And if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”]

¹⁷ And when He had left the crowd and entered ^(P)the house, ^(Q)His disciples were asking Him about the parable. ¹⁸ And He *said to them, “Are you lacking understanding in this way as well? Do you not ^[f]perceive that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and goes to the sewer?” (Thus He declared ^(R)all foods ^(S)clean.) ²⁰ And He was saying, “^(T)That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. ²¹ For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, ²² coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, ^[g](U)envy, slander, ^[h]pride, and foolishness. ²³ All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”

A Gentile Woman’s Faith

^24 (V)Now Jesus stood up and went away from there to the region of ^(W)Tyre^[i]. And when He had entered a house, He was wanting no one to know of it; ^[j]yet He could not escape notice. ²⁵ But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. ²⁶ Now the woman was a ^[k]Greek, of Syrophoenician descent. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ And He was saying to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not ^[l]good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁸ But she answered and *said to Him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.” ²⁹ And He said to her, “Because of this ^[m]answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” ³⁰ And going back to her home, she found the child ^[n]lying on the bed, the demon having left.

The Deaf Hear, the Mute Speak

^31 (X)And again He went out from the region of ^(Y)Tyre, and came through Sidon to ^(Z)the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the ^(AA)Decapolis. ³² And they *brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they *pleaded with Him to ^(AB)lay His hand on him. ^33 (AC)And Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after ^(AD)spitting, He touched his tongue; ³⁴ and looking up to heaven with a ^(AE)sigh, He *said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” ³⁵ And his ears were opened, and the ^[o]impediment of his tongue ^[p]was removed, and he began speaking plainly. ³⁶ And ^(AF)He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He was ordering them, the more widely they ^(AG)continued to proclaim it. ³⁷ And they were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”