What Really Makes People Unclean

(Matthew 15.10-20)

¹⁴ Jesus called the crowd together again and said, “Pay attention and try to understand what I mean. ^15-16 The food that you put into your mouth doesn't make you unclean and unfit to worship God. The bad words that come out of your mouth are what make you unclean.”^[a]

¹⁷ After Jesus and his disciples had left the crowd and gone into the house, they asked him what these sayings meant. ¹⁸ He answered, “Don't you know what I am talking about by now? You surely know that the food you put into your mouth cannot make you unclean. ¹⁹ It doesn't go into your heart, but into your stomach, and then out of your body.” By saying this, Jesus meant that all foods were fit to eat.

²⁰ Then Jesus said:

What comes from your heart is what makes you unclean. ²¹ Out of your heart come evil thoughts, vulgar deeds, stealing, murder, ²² unfaithfulness in marriage, greed, meanness, deceit, indecency, envy, insults, pride, and foolishness. ²³ All of these come from your heart, and they are what make you unfit to worship God.

A Woman's Faith

(Matthew 15.21-28)

²⁴ Jesus left and went to the region near the town of Tyre, where he stayed in someone's home. He did not want people to know he was there, but they found out anyway. ²⁵ A woman whose daughter had an evil spirit in her heard where Jesus was. And at once she came and knelt down at his feet. ²⁶ The woman was Greek and had been born in the part of Syria known as Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to force the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ But Jesus said, “The children must first be fed! It isn't right to take away their food and feed it to dogs.”^[b]

²⁸ The woman replied, “Lord, even puppies eat the crumbs that children drop from the table.”

²⁹ Jesus answered, “That's true! You may go now. The demon has left your daughter.” ³⁰ When the woman got back home, she found her child lying on the bed. The demon had gone.

Jesus Heals a Man Who Was Deaf and Could Hardly Talk

³¹ Jesus left the region around Tyre and went by way of Sidon toward Lake Galilee. He went through the land near the ten cities known as Decapolis.^{[c] 32} Some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk. They begged Jesus just to touch him.

³³ After Jesus had taken him aside from the crowd, he stuck his fingers in the man's ears. Then he spit and put it on the man's tongue. ³⁴ Jesus looked up toward heaven, and with a groan he said, “Effatha!”^[d] which means “Open up!” ³⁵ At once the man could hear, and he had no more trouble talking clearly.

³⁶ Jesus told the people not to say anything about what he had done. But the more he told them, the more they talked about it. ³⁷ They were completely amazed and said, “Everything he does is good! He even heals people who cannot hear or talk.”

David Gets Ready for Battle

18 David divided his soldiers into groups of 100 and groups of 1,000. Then he chose officers to be in command of each group. ² He sent out one third of his army under the command of Joab, another third under the command of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, and the rest under the command of Ittai from Gath. He told the soldiers, “I'm going into battle with you.”

³ But the soldiers said, “No, don't go into battle with us! It won't matter to our enemies if they make us all run away, or even if they kill half of us. But you are worth 10,000 of us. It would be better for you to stay in town and send help if we need it.”

^4-6 David said, “All right, if you think I should.”

Then in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, he said, “Joab! Abishai! Ittai! For my sake, be sure that Absalom comes back unharmed.”

David stood beside the town gate as his army marched past in groups of 100 and in groups of 1,000.

Joab Kills Absalom

The war with Israel took place in Ephraim Forest. ^7-8 Battles were being fought all over the forest, and David's soldiers were winning. Twenty thousand soldiers were killed^[a] that day, and more of them died from the dangers of the forest than from the fighting itself.

⁹ Absalom was riding his mule under a huge tree when his head^[b] caught in the branches. The mule ran off and left Absalom hanging in midair. Some of David's soldiers happened by, ¹⁰ and one of them went and told Joab, “I saw Absalom hanging in a tree!”

¹¹ Joab said, “You saw Absalom? Why didn't you kill him? I would have given you ten pieces of silver and a special belt.”

¹² The man answered, “Even if you paid me 1,000 pieces of silver here and now, I still wouldn't touch the king's son. We all heard King David tell you and Abishai and Ittai not to harm Absalom. ¹³ He always finds out what's going on. I would have been risking my life to kill Absalom, because you would have let me take the blame.”

¹⁴ Joab said, “I'm not going to waste any more time on you!”

Absalom was still alive, so Joab took three spears and stuck them through Absalom's chest. ¹⁵ Ten of Joab's bodyguards came over and finished him off. ¹⁶ Then Joab blew a trumpet to signal his troops to stop chasing Israel's soldiers. ¹⁷ They threw Absalom's body into a deep pit in the forest and put a big pile of rocks over it.

Meanwhile, the people of Israel had all run back to their own homes.

¹⁸ When Absalom was alive, he had set up a stone monument for himself in King's Valley. He explained, “I don't have any sons^[c] to keep my name alive.” He called it Absalom's Monument, and that is the name it still has today.^[d]

Ahimaaz Wants To Tell David

¹⁹ Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, “Joab, let me run and tell King David that the Lord has rescued him from his enemies.”

²⁰ Joab answered, “You're not the one to tell the king that his son is dead. You can take him a message some other time, but not today.”

²¹ Someone from Ethiopia^[e] was standing there, and Joab told him, “Go and tell the king what you have seen.” The man knelt down in front of Joab, then got up and started running.

²² Ahimaaz spoke to Joab again, “No matter what happens, I still want to go. And besides, the Ethiopian has already left.”

Joab said, “Why should you go? You won't get a reward for the news you have!”

²³ “I'll run no matter what!” Ahimaaz insisted.

“All right then, run!” Joab said.

Ahimaaz took the road through the Jordan Valley and outran the Ethiopian.

²⁴ Meanwhile, David was sitting between the inner and outer gates^[f] in the city wall. One of his soldiers was watching from the roof of the gate-tower. He saw a man running toward the town ²⁵ and shouted down to tell David.

David answered, “If he's alone, he must have some news.”

The runner was getting closer, ²⁶ when the soldier saw someone else running. He shouted down to the gate, “Look! There's another runner!”

David said, “He must have some news too.”

²⁷ The soldier on the roof shouted, “The first one runs just like Ahimaaz the son of Zadok.”

This time David said, “He's a good man. He must have some good news.”

²⁸ Ahimaaz called out, “We won! We won!” Then he bowed low to David and said, “Your Majesty, praise the Lord your God! He has given you victory over your enemies.”

²⁹ “Is my son Absalom all right?” David asked.

Ahimaaz said, “When Joab sent your personal servant and me, I saw a noisy crowd. But I don't know what it was all about.”

³⁰ David told him, “Stand over there and wait.”

Ahimaaz went over and stood there. ³¹ The Ethiopian came and said, “Your Majesty, today I have good news! The Lord has rescued you from all your enemies!”

³² “Is my son Absalom all right?” David asked.

The Ethiopian replied, “I wish that all Your Majesty's enemies and everyone who tries to harm you would end up like him!”

David Cries for Absalom

³³ David started trembling. Then he went up to the room above the city gate to cry. As he went, he kept saying, “My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! I wish I could have died instead of you! Absalom, my son, my son!”^[g]

Part Two: The Evil King from the North

²¹ The successor of this king of the north will be a worthless nobody, who doesn't even come from a royal family. He will suddenly appear and gain control of the kingdom by treachery. ²² Then he will destroy armies and remove God's chosen high priest. ²³ He will make a treaty, but he will be deceitful and break it, even though he has only a few followers. ²⁴ Without warning, he will successfully invade a wealthy province, which is something his ancestors never did. Then he will divide among his followers all of its treasures and property. But none of this will last very long.

²⁵ He will gather a large and powerful army, and with great courage he will attack the king of the south. The king of the south will meet him with a much stronger army, but he will lose the battle, because he will be betrayed ²⁶ by members of the royal court. He will be ruined, and most of his army will be slaughtered.

²⁷ The two kings will meet around a table and tell evil lies to each other. But their plans will fail, because God has already decided what will happen. ²⁸ Then the king of the north will return to his country with great treasures. But on the way, he will attack the religion of God's people and do whatever else he pleases.

²⁹ At the time God has decided, the king of the north will invade the southern kingdom again, but this time, things will be different. ^30 (A) Ships from the west will come to attack him, and he will be discouraged. Then he will start back to his own country and take out his anger on the religion of God's faithful people, while showing kindness to those who are unfaithful. ^31 (B) He will send troops to pollute the temple and the fortress, and he will stop the daily sacrifices. Then he will set up that “Horrible Thing” that causes destruction. ³² The king will use deceit to win followers from those who are unfaithful to God, but those who remain faithful will do everything possible to oppose him.

³³ Wise leaders will instruct many of the people. But for a while, some of these leaders will either be killed with swords or burned alive, or else robbed of their possessions and thrown into prison. ³⁴ They will receive only a little help in their time of trouble, and many of their followers will be treacherous. ³⁵ Some of those who are wise will suffer, so that God will make them pure and acceptable until the end, which will still come at the time he has decided.

^36 (C) This king will do as he pleases. He will proudly claim to be greater than any god and will insult the only true God. Indeed, he will be successful until God is no longer angry with his people. ³⁷ This king will reject the gods his ancestors worshiped and the god preferred by women.^[a] In fact, he will put himself above all gods ³⁸ and worship only the so-called god of fortresses, who was unknown to his ancestors. And he will honor it with gold, silver, precious stones, and other costly gifts. ³⁹ With the help of this foreign god, he will capture the strongest fortresses. Everyone who worships this god will be put in a position of power and rewarded with wealth and land.

Part Three: The Time of the End

⁴⁰ At the time of the end, the king of the south will attack the kingdom of the north. But its king will rush out like a storm with war chariots, cavalry, and many ships. Indeed, his forces will flood one country after another, ⁴¹ and when they reach the holy land,^[b] tens of thousands will be killed. But the countries of Edom and Moab and the ruler of Ammon^[c] will escape.

⁴² The king of the north will invade many countries, including Egypt, ⁴³ and he will take its rich treasures of gold and silver. He will also conquer Libya and Ethiopia.^{[d] 44} But he will be alarmed by news from the east and the north, and he will become furious and cause great destruction. ⁴⁵ After this, he will set up camp between the Mediterranean Sea and Mount Zion. Then he will be destroyed, and no one will be able to save him.