² “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, ^(A)These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth.

¹⁰ but deal only with ^(A)food and drink and ^(B)various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

^11 (A)it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”

¹¹ You shall regard them as detestable; you shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall detest their carcasses.

⁹ Do not be ^(A)led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, ^(B)not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.

⁴ For ^(A)everything created by God is good, and ^(B)nothing is to be rejected if it is ^(C)received with thanksgiving, ⁵ for it is made holy ^(D)by the word of God and prayer.

A Good Servant of Christ Jesus

^6 (E)If you put these things before the brothers,^[a] you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have ^(F)followed.

¹⁴ I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus ^(A)that nothing is unclean in itself, ^(B)but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. ¹⁵ For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, ^(C)you are no longer walking in love. ^(D)By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.

^2 (A)One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. ³ Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and ^(B)let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.

¹² In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. ¹³ And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” ¹⁴ But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; ^(A)for I have never eaten anything that is ^(B)common or ^(C)unclean.”

^15 (A)There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”^{[a] 17} And when he had entered ^(B)the house and left the people, ^(C)his disciples asked him about the parable. ¹⁸ And he said to them, “Then ^(D)are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ since it enters not his heart ^(E)but his stomach, and is expelled?”^[b] (^(F)Thus he declared all foods clean.)