Tradition and Commandment

15 ^(A)Then some Pharisees and scribes *came to Jesus ^(B)from Jerusalem and said, ² “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they ^(C)do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” ³ And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴ For God said, ‘^(D)Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘^(E)He who speaks evil of father or mother is to ^[a]be put to death.’ ⁵ But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been ^[b]given to God,” ⁶ he is not to honor his father or his mother^[c].’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. ⁷ You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you:

¹⁰ After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand. ^11 (H)It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”

¹² Then the disciples *came and *said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were ^[d]offended when they heard this statement?” ¹³ But He answered and said, “^(I)Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. ¹⁴ Let them alone; ^(J)they are blind guides ^[e]of the blind. And ^(K)if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

The Heart of Man

¹⁵ Peter ^[f]said to Him, “^(L)Explain the parable to us.” ^16 [g]Jesus said, “Are you still lacking in understanding also? ¹⁷ Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is ^[h]eliminated? ¹⁸ But ^(M)the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. ^19 (N)For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, ^[i]fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. ²⁰ These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.”

The Syrophoenician Woman

^21 (O)Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of ^(P)Tyre and ^(Q)Sidon. ²² And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, ^(R)Son of David; my daughter is cruelly ^(S)demon-possessed.” ²³ But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting ^[j]at us.” ²⁴ But He answered and said, “I was sent only to ^(T)the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵ But she came and ^(U)began ^[k]to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” ²⁶ And He answered and said, “It is not ^[l]good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷ But she said, “Yes, Lord; ^[m]but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” ²⁸ Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, ^(V)your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed ^[n]at once.

Healing Crowds

^29 (W)Departing from there, Jesus went along by ^(X)the Sea of Galilee, and having gone up on the mountain, He was sitting there. ³⁰ And ^[o]large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and ^(Y)He healed them. ³¹ So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled ^[p]restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they ^(Z)glorified the God of Israel.

Four Thousand Fed

^32 (AA)And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, “^(AB)I feel compassion for the ^[q]people, because they ^[r]have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.” ³³ The disciples *said to Him, “Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?” ³⁴ And Jesus *said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” ³⁵ And He directed the ^[s]people to ^[t]sit down on the ground; ³⁶ and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and ^(AC)giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. ³⁷ And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large ^(AD)baskets full. ³⁸ And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.

³⁹ And sending away the crowds, Jesus got into ^(AE)the boat and came to the region of ^(AF)Magadan.

Followers of Tradition

7 ^(A)The Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered around Him when they had come ^(B)from Jerusalem, ² and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with ^(C)impure hands, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they ^[a]carefully wash their hands, thus observing the ^(D)traditions of the elders; ⁴ and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they ^[b]cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the ^[c]washing of ^(E)cups and pitchers and copper pots.) ⁵ The Pharisees and the scribes *asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the ^(F)tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with ^(G)impure hands?” ⁶ And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

⁸ Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the ^(J)tradition of men.”

⁹ He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your ^(K)tradition. ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘^(L)Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘^(M)He who speaks evil of father or mother, is to ^[d]be put to death’; ¹¹ but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is ^(N)Corban (that is to say, ^[e]given to God),’ ¹² you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother; ¹³ thus invalidating the word of God by your ^(O)tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”

The Heart of Man

¹⁴ After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵ there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. ¹⁶ [^[f]If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”]

¹⁷ When he had left the crowd and entered ^(P)the house, ^(Q)His disciples questioned Him about the parable. ¹⁸ And He *said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and ^[g]is eliminated?” (Thus He declared ^(R)all foods ^(S)clean.) ²⁰ And He was saying, “^(T)That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. ²¹ For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, ^[h]fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, ²² deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, ^[i](U)envy, slander, ^[j]pride and foolishness. ²³ All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”

The Syrophoenician Woman

^24 (V)Jesus got up and went away from there to the region of ^(W)Tyre^[k]. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it; ^[l]yet He could not escape notice. ²⁵ But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. ²⁶ Now the woman was a ^[m]Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ And He was saying to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not ^[n]good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁸ But she answered and *said to Him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.” ²⁹ And He said to her, “Because of this ^[o]answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” ³⁰ And going back to her home, she found the child ^[p]lying on the bed, the demon having left.

^31 (X)Again He went out from the region of ^(Y)Tyre, and came through Sidon to ^(Z)the Sea of Galilee, within the region of ^(AA)Decapolis. ³² They *brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they *implored Him to ^(AB)lay His hand on him. ^33 (AC)Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after ^(AD)spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; ³⁴ and looking up to heaven with a deep ^(AE)sigh, He *said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” ³⁵ And his ears were opened, and the ^[q]impediment of his tongue ^[r]was removed, and he began speaking plainly. ³⁶ And ^(AF)He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they ^(AG)continued to proclaim it. ³⁷ They were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”