Defilement from Within

¹⁴ And summoning the crowd again, he said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵ There is nothing outside of a person that is able to defile him by^[a] going into him. But the things that go out of a person are the things that defile a person.”^{[b] 17} And when he entered into the house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable. ¹⁸ And he said to them, “So are you also without understanding? Do you not understand that everything that is outside that goes into a person is not able to defile him? ¹⁹ For it does not enter into his heart but into his^[c] stomach, and goes out into the latrine”—thus^[d] declaring all foods clean. ²⁰ And he said, “What comes out of a person, that defiles a person. ²¹ For from within, from the heart of people, come evil plans, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, ²² adulteries, acts of greed, malicious deeds, deceit, licentiousness, envy,^[e] abusive speech, pride, foolishness. ²³ All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”