¹⁴ And He called the people to [Him] again and said to them, Listen to Me, all of you, and understand [what I say].

¹⁵ There is not [even] one thing outside a man which by going into him can pollute and defile him; but the things which come out of a man are what defile him and make him unhallowed and unclean.

^16 [a]If any man has ears to hear, let him be listening [and let him ^[b]perceive and comprehend by hearing].

¹⁷ And when He had left the crowd and had gone into the house, His disciples began asking Him about the parable.

¹⁸ And He said to them, Then are you also unintelligent and dull and without understanding? Do you not discern and see that whatever goes into a man from the outside cannot make him unhallowed or unclean,

¹⁹ Since it does not reach and enter his heart but [only his] digestive tract, and so passes on [into the place designed to receive waste]? Thus He was making and declaring all foods [ceremonially] clean [that is, ^[c]abolishing the ceremonial distinctions of the Levitical Law].

²⁰ And He said, What comes out of a man is what makes a man unclean and renders [him] unhallowed.

²¹ For from within, [that is] out of the hearts of men, come base and wicked thoughts, sexual immorality, stealing, murder, adultery,

²² Coveting (a greedy desire to have more wealth), dangerous and destructive wickedness, deceit; ^[d]unrestrained (indecent) conduct; an evil eye (envy), slander (evil speaking, malicious misrepresentation, abusiveness), pride (^[e]the sin of an uplifted heart against God and man), foolishness (folly, lack of sense, recklessness, thoughtlessness).

²³ All these evil [purposes and desires] come from within, and they make the man unclean and render him unhallowed.

²⁴ And Jesus arose and went away from there to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He went into a house and did not want anyone to know [that He was there]; but it was not possible for Him to be hidden [from public notice].

²⁵ Instead, at once, a woman whose little daughter had (was under the control of) an unclean spirit heard about Him and came and flung herself down at His feet.

²⁶ Now the woman was a Greek (Gentile), a Syrophoenician by nationality. And she kept begging Him to drive the demon out of her little daughter.

²⁷ And He said to her, First let the children be fed, for it is not becoming or proper or right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the [little house] dogs.

²⁸ But she answered Him, Yes, Lord, yet even the small pups under the table eat the little children’s scraps of food.

²⁹ And He said to her, Because of this saying, you may go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter [permanently].

³⁰ And she went home and found the child thrown on the couch, and the demon departed.

³¹ Soon after this, Jesus, coming back from the region of Tyre, passed through Sidon on to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of Decapolis [the ten cities].

³² And they brought to Him a man who was deaf and had difficulty in speaking, and they begged Jesus to place His hand upon him.

³³ And taking him aside from the crowd [privately], He thrust His fingers into the man’s ears and spat and touched his tongue;

³⁴ And looking up to heaven, He sighed as He said, Ephphatha, which means, Be opened!

³⁵ And his ears were opened, his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak distinctly and as he should.

³⁶ And Jesus [^[f]in His own interest] admonished and ordered them sternly and expressly to tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.

³⁷ And they were overwhelmingly astonished, saying, He has done everything excellently (commendably and nobly)! He even makes the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak!

1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw [through divine revelation] concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

² Hear, all you people; listen closely, O earth and all that is in it, and let the Lord God be witness among you and against you, the Lord from His holy temple.^(A)

³ For behold, the Lord comes forth out of His place and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.^(B)

⁴ And the mountains shall melt under Him and the valleys shall be cleft like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place.

⁵ All this is because of the transgression of Jacob and the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not [the idol worship of] Samaria? And what are the high places [of idolatry] in Judah? Are they not Jerusalem?

⁶ Therefore I [the Lord] will make Samaria a ^[a]heap in the open country, a place for planting vineyards; and I will pour down into the ravine her stones and lay bare her foundations.^(C)

⁷ And all her carved images shall be broken in pieces, and all her hires [all that man would gain from desertion of God] shall be burned with fire, and all her idols will be laid waste; for from the hire of [one] harlot she gathered them, and to the hire of [another] harlot they shall return.

⁸ Therefore I [Micah] will lament and wail; I will go stripped and [virtually] naked; I will make a wailing like the jackals and a lamentation like the ostriches.

⁹ For [Samaria’s] wounds are incurable and they come even to Judah; He [the Lord] has reached to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem.

¹⁰ In Gath [a city in Philistia] announce it not; in ^[b]Acco weep not at all, [betraying your grief to foreigners; but among your own people] in Beth-le-aphrah [house of dust] roll yourself in the dust.

¹¹ Pass on your way [into exile], dwellers of Shaphir, in shameful nakedness. The dwellers of Zaanan dare not come forth; the wailing of Beth-ezel takes away from you the place on which it stands.

¹² For the inhabitant of Maroth [bitterness] writhes in pain [at its losses] and waits anxiously for good, because evil comes down from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem.

¹³ Bind the chariot to the swift steed, O lady inhabitant of Lachish; you were the beginning of sin to the Daughter of Zion, for the transgressions of Israel were found in you.

¹⁴ Therefore you must give parting gifts to Moresheth-gath [Micah’s home town]; the houses of Achzib [place of deceit] shall be a deception to the kings of Israel.

¹⁵ Yet will I bring a conqueror upon you, O lady inhabitant of Mareshah, who shall possess you; the glory and nobility of Israel shall come to Adullam [to hide in the caves, as did David].^(D)

¹⁶ Make yourself bald in mourning and cut off your hair for the children of your delight; enlarge your baldness as the eagle, for [your children] shall be carried from you into exile.