Breaking Human Traditions

15 Then Pharisees^[a] and experts in the law^[b] came from Jerusalem to Jesus and said,^{[c] 2} “Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their^[d] hands when they eat.”^{[e] 3} He answered them,^[f] “And why do you disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition? ⁴ For God said,^[g] ‘Honor your father and mother’^[h] and ‘Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.’^{[i] 5} But you say, ‘If someone tells his father or mother, “Whatever help you would have received from me is given to God,”^{[j] 6} he does not need to honor his father.’^[k] You have nullified the word of God on account of your tradition. ⁷ Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said,

True Defilement

¹⁰ Then he called the crowd to him and said,^[n] “Listen and understand. ¹¹ What defiles a person is not what goes into the mouth; it is what^[o] comes out of the mouth that defiles a person.” ¹² Then the disciples came to him and said, “Do you know that when the Pharisees^[p] heard this saying they were offended?” ¹³ And he replied,^[q] “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted. ¹⁴ Leave them! They are blind guides.^[r] If someone who is blind leads another who is blind,^[s] both will fall into a pit.” ¹⁵ But Peter^[t] said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” ¹⁶ Jesus^[u] said, “Even after all this, are you still so foolish? ¹⁷ Don’t you understand that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and then passes out into the sewer?^{[v] 18} But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a person. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil ideas, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. ²⁰ These are the things that defile a person; it is not eating with unwashed hands that defiles a person.”^[w]

² And they saw that some of Jesus’ disciples^[a] ate their bread with unclean hands, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they perform a ritual washing,^[b] holding fast to the tradition of the elders. ⁴ And when they come from the marketplace,^[c] they do not eat unless they wash. They hold fast to many other traditions: the washing of cups, pots, kettles, and dining couches.^[d])^{[e] 5} The Pharisees and the experts in the law asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat^[f] with unwashed hands?” ⁶ He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written:

⁸ Having no regard^[i] for the command of God, you hold fast to human tradition.”^{[j] 9} He also said to them, “You neatly reject the commandment of God in order to set up^[k] your tradition. ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’^[l] and, ‘Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.’^{[m] 11} But you say that if anyone tells his father or mother, ‘Whatever help you would have received from me is corban’^[n] (that is, a gift for God), ¹² then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother. ¹³ Thus you nullify^[o] the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like this.”

¹⁴ Then^[p] he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand. ¹⁵ There is nothing outside of a person that can defile him by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles him.”^[q]

¹⁷ Now^[r] when Jesus^[s] had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. ¹⁸ He said to them, “Are you so foolish? Don’t you understand that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him? ¹⁹ For it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and then goes out into the sewer.”^[t] (This means all foods are clean.)^{[u] 20} He said, “What comes out of a person defiles him. ²¹ For from within, out of the human heart, come evil ideas, sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²² adultery, greed, evil, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, and folly. ²³ All these evils come from within and defile a person.”