Saul’s Death

10 Now the Philistines fought against Israel. The Israelites fled before the Philistines and many of them fell dead on Mount Gilboa. ² The Philistines stayed right on the heels of^[a] Saul and his sons. They^[b] struck down Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua. ³ The battle was thick^[c] around Saul; the archers spotted him and wounded him.^{[d] 4} Saul told his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and stab me with it. Otherwise these uncircumcised people will come and torture me.”^[e] But his armor-bearer refused to do it, because he was very afraid. So Saul took the sword and fell on it. ⁵ When his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died. ⁶ So Saul and his three sons died; his whole household^[f] died together. ⁷ When all the Israelites who were in the valley saw that the army^[g] had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. The Philistines came and occupied them.

⁸ The next day, when the Philistines came to strip loot from the corpses, they discovered Saul and his sons lying dead on Mount Gilboa. ⁹ They stripped his corpse, and then carried off his head and his armor. They sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines proclaiming the news to their idols and their people. ¹⁰ They placed his armor in the temple of their gods^[h] and hung his head in the temple of Dagon. ¹¹ When all the residents of Jabesh Gilead heard about everything the Philistines had done to Saul, ¹² all the warriors went and recovered the bodies of Saul and his sons^[i] and brought them to Jabesh. They buried their remains^[j] under the oak tree in Jabesh and fasted for seven days.

¹³ So Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord and did not obey the Lord’s instructions; he even tried to conjure up underworld spirits.^{[k] 14} He did not seek the Lord’s guidance, so the Lord^[l] killed him and transferred the kingdom to David son of Jesse.

Psalm 39^[a]

For the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of David.

Breaking Human Traditions

7 Now^[a] the Pharisees^[b] and some of the experts in the law^[c] who came from Jerusalem gathered around him. ² And they saw that some of Jesus’ disciples^[d] ate their bread with unclean hands, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they perform a ritual washing,^[e] holding fast to the tradition of the elders. ⁴ And when they come from the marketplace,^[f] they do not eat unless they wash. They hold fast to many other traditions: the washing of cups, pots, kettles, and dining couches.^[g])^{[h] 5} The Pharisees and the experts in the law asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat^[i] with unwashed hands?” ⁶ He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written:

⁸ Having no regard^[l] for the command of God, you hold fast to human tradition.”^{[m] 9} He also said to them, “You neatly reject the commandment of God in order to set up^[n] your tradition. ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’^[o] and, ‘Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.’^{[p] 11} But you say that if anyone tells his father or mother, ‘Whatever help you would have received from me is corban’^[q] (that is, a gift for God), ¹² then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother. ¹³ Thus you nullify^[r] the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like this.”

¹⁴ Then^[s] he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand. ¹⁵ There is nothing outside of a person that can defile him by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles him.”^[t]

¹⁷ Now^[u] when Jesus^[v] had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. ¹⁸ He said to them, “Are you so foolish? Don’t you understand that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him? ¹⁹ For it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and then goes out into the sewer.”^[w] (This means all foods are clean.)^{[x] 20} He said, “What comes out of a person defiles him. ²¹ For from within, out of the human heart, come evil ideas, sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²² adultery, greed, evil, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, and folly. ²³ All these evils come from within and defile a person.”

A Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith

²⁴ After Jesus^[y] left there, he went to the region of Tyre.^[z] When he went into a house, he did not want anyone to know, but^[aa] he was not able to escape notice. ²⁵ Instead, a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit^[ab] immediately heard about him and came and fell at his feet. ²⁶ The woman was a Greek, of Syrophoenician origin. She^[ac] asked him to cast the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ He said to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and to throw it to the dogs.”^{[ad] 28} She answered, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” ²⁹ Then^[ae] he said to her, “Because you said this, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.” ³⁰ She went home and found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Healing a Deaf Mute

³¹ Then^[af] Jesus^[ag] went out again from the region of Tyre and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee in the region of the Decapolis.^{[ah] 32} They brought to him a deaf man who had difficulty speaking, and they asked him to place his hands on him. ³³ After Jesus^[ai] took him aside privately, away from the crowd, he put his fingers in the man’s^[aj] ears, and after spitting, he touched his tongue.^{[ak] 34} Then^[al] he looked up to heaven and said with a sigh, “Ephphatha” (that is, “Be opened”).^{[am] 35} And immediately the man’s^[an] ears were opened, his tongue loosened, and he spoke plainly. ³⁶ Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone. But as much as he ordered them not to do this, they proclaimed it all the more.^{[ao] 37} People were completely astounded and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”