Hearts Harden

7 Now the Pharisees and some of the Torah scholars who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Yeshua. ² And they saw that some of His disciples were eating bread with unclean hands, that is, not washed. ³ (For the Pharisees and all Jewish people do not eat unless they wash their hands up to the elbow, keeping the tradition of the elders. ⁴ And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they perform a ritual washing.^[a] There are many other traditions they have received and hold, such as the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels.)^[b]

⁵ The Pharisees and Torah scholars questioned Yeshua, “Why don’t Your disciples walk according to the tradition of the elders? Why do they eat bread with unwashed hands?”

⁶ And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written,

⁸ Having left behind the commandment of God, you hold on to the tradition of men.”

⁹ He was also telling them, “You set aside the commands of God, in order that you may validate your own tradition. ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.’ ^{[d] 11} But you say if anyone tells his father or mother, ‘Whatever you might have gained from me is korban (that is, an offering to God),’ ¹² then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, ¹³ making void the word of God with your tradition that you’ve handed down. And you do many such things.”^[e]

¹⁴ Then Yeshua called the crowd again and began saying to them, “Hear Me, everyone, and understand. ¹⁵ There is nothing outside the man that can make him unholy by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of the man that makes the man unholy.” ^{[f] (16) [g]}

¹⁷ When He had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable. ¹⁸ And He said to them, “Are you then also lacking understanding? Don’t you grasp that whatever goes into the man cannot make him unholy? ¹⁹ For it does not enter into the heart but into the stomach, and then goes out into the sewer, cleansing all foods.”^[h]

²⁰ And He continued, “It is what comes out of the man that makes the man unholy. ²¹ For from within, out of the heart of men, come evil intentions, sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²² adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustfulness, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. ²³ All these evil things come from within and make the man unholy.”

Miracles Touch Gentile Lives

²⁴ Yeshua got up and left from there to the region of Tyre. When He had entered a house, He didn’t want anyone to know; but He couldn’t escape notice. ²⁵ A woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him. She came immediately and fell at His feet. ²⁶ The woman was a Greek, from Syrophoenicia. And she kept begging Yeshua to drive the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷ He was telling her, “First let the children get their fill, for it’s not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

²⁸ “Yes, Master,” she said to Him, “but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹ Then He said to her, “Because of this word, go your way! The demon has left your daughter.” ³⁰ She went home and found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

³¹ Again He left the region of Tyre and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis. ³² They bring Him a deaf man who had a speech impediment, and they beg Him to lay His hand on him. ³³ Yeshua took him aside from the crowd to a private place, and He put His fingers in the man’s ears. After spitting, He touched the man’s tongue. ³⁴ Looking up to heaven, He says to the man, “Ephphatha,”^[i] which means “Be opened!”

³⁵ Immediately the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak plainly. ³⁶ Yeshua ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more He ordered them, the more they continued proclaiming it. ³⁷ People were completely astounded, saying, “He has done all things well. He makes even the deaf hear and the mute speak!”