Defilement Comes from Within^(A)

15 Then ^(B)the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, ^2 (C)“Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”

³ He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? ⁴ For God commanded, saying, ^(D)‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ^(E)‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ ⁵ But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, ^(F)“Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God”— ⁶ then he need not honor his father ^[a]or mother.’ Thus you have made the ^[b]commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. ^7 (G)Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:

^10 (J)When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear and understand: ^11 (K)Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”

¹² Then His disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”

¹³ But He answered and said, ^(L)“Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. ¹⁴ Let them alone. ^(M)They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.”

^15 (N)Then Peter answered and said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.”

¹⁶ So Jesus said, ^(O)“Are you also still without understanding? ¹⁷ Do you not yet understand that ^(P)whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? ¹⁸ But ^(Q)those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. ^19 (R)For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. ²⁰ These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”

Woe to the Scribes and Pharisees^(A)

23 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, ² saying: ^(B)“The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. ³ Therefore whatever they tell you ^[a]to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for ^(C)they say, and do not do. ^4 (D)For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. ⁵ But all their works they do to ^(E)be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. ^6 (F)They love the ^[b]best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, ⁷ greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ ^8 (G)But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your ^[c]Teacher, ^[d]the Christ, and you are all brethren. ⁹ Do not call anyone on earth your father; ^(H)for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. ¹⁰ And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. ¹¹ But ^(I)he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. ^12 (J)And whoever exalts himself will be ^[e]humbled, and he who humbles himself will be ^[f]exalted.

Honor Masters

6 Let as many ^(A)bondservants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and His doctrine may not be blasphemed. ² And those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather serve them because those who are benefited are believers and beloved. Teach and exhort these things.

Error and Greed

³ If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to ^(B)wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, ^(C)and to the ^[a]doctrine which accords with godliness, ⁴ he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, ^5 [b]useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. ^[c]From ^(D)such withdraw yourself.

Perilous Times and Perilous Men

3 But know this, that ^(A)in the last days ^[a]perilous times will come: ² For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³ unloving, ^[b]unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, ^4 (B)traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ^5 (C)having a form of godliness but ^(D)denying its power. And ^(E)from such people turn away! ⁶ For ^(F)of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, ⁷ always learning and never able ^(G)to come to the knowledge of the truth. ^8 (H)Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: ^(I)men of corrupt minds, ^(J)disapproved concerning the faith;