Matthew 15
New King James Version
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:
8 ‘These(H) people [c]draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
9 And in vain they worship Me,
(I)Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”
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.”
A Gentile Shows Her Faith(S)
21 (T)Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, (U)Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.”
23 But He answered her not a word.
And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.”
24 But He answered and said, (V)“I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
25 Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”
26 But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little (W)dogs.”
27 And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”
28 Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, (X)great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
Jesus Heals Great Multitudes(Y)
29 (Z)Jesus departed from there, (AA)skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there. 30 (AB)Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, [d]maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ (AC)feet, and He healed them. 31 So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the [e]maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they (AD)glorified the God of Israel.
Feeding the Four Thousand(AE)
32 (AF)Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”
33 (AG)Then His disciples said to Him, “Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?”
34 Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?”
And they said, “Seven, and a few little fish.”
35 So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. 36 And (AH)He took the seven loaves and the fish and (AI)gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude. 37 So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left. 38 Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. 39 (AJ)And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of [f]Magdala.
Footnotes
- Matthew 15:6 NU omits or mother
- Matthew 15:6 NU word
- Matthew 15:8 NU omits draw near to Me with their mouth, And
- Matthew 15:30 crippled
- Matthew 15:31 crippled
- Matthew 15:39 NU Magadan
Matthew 15
New International Reader's Version
What Makes People “Unclean”?
15 Some Pharisees and some teachers of the law came from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked, 2 “Why don’t your disciples obey what the elders teach? Your disciples don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
3 Jesus replied, “And why don’t you obey God’s command? You would rather follow your own teachings! 4 God said, ‘Honor your father and mother.’ (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16) He also said, ‘Anyone who asks for bad things to happen to their father or mother must be put to death.’ (Exodus 21:17; Leviticus 20:9) 5 But suppose people have something that might be used to help their parents. You allow them to say it is instead ‘a gift set apart for God.’ 6 So they do not need to honor their father or mother with their gift. You make the word of God useless in order to follow your own teachings. 7 You pretenders! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you. He said,
8 “ ‘These people honor me by what they say.
But their hearts are far away from me.
9 Their worship doesn’t mean anything to me.
They teach nothing but human rules.’ ” (Isaiah 29:13)
10 Jesus called the crowd to him. He said, “Listen and understand. 11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not make them ‘unclean.’ It’s what comes out of their mouth that makes them ‘unclean.’ ”
12 Then the disciples came to him. They asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were angry when they heard this?”
13 Jesus replied, “They are plants that my Father in heaven has not planted. They will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Leave the Pharisees. They are blind guides. If one blind person leads another blind person, both of them will fall into a pit.”
15 Peter said, “Explain this to us.”
16 “Don’t you understand yet?” Jesus asked them. 17 “Don’t you see? Everything that enters the mouth goes into the stomach. Then it goes out of the body. 18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart. Those are the things that make someone ‘unclean.’ 19 Evil thoughts come out of a person’s heart. So do murder, adultery, and other sexual sins. And so do stealing, false witness, and telling lies about others. 20 Those are the things that make you ‘unclean.’ But eating without washing your hands does not make you ‘unclean.’ ”
The Faith of a Woman From Canaan
21 Jesus left Galilee and went to the area of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A woman from Canaan lived near Tyre and Sidon. She came to him and cried out, “Lord! Son of David! Have mercy on me! A demon controls my daughter. She is suffering terribly.”
23 Jesus did not say a word. So his disciples came to him. They begged him, “Send her away. She keeps crying out after us.”
24 Jesus answered, “I was sent only to the people of Israel. They are like lost sheep.”
25 Then the woman fell to her knees in front of him. “Lord! Help me!” she said.
26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their owner’s table.”
28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! You will be given what you are asking for.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
Jesus Feeds Four Thousand
29 Jesus left there. He walked along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. 30 Large crowds came to him. They brought blind people and those who could not walk. They also brought disabled people, those who could not speak, and many others. They laid them at his feet, and he healed them. 31 The people were amazed. Those who could not speak were speaking. The disabled were made well. Those not able to walk were walking. Those who were blind could see. So the people praised the God of Israel.
32 Then Jesus called for his disciples to come to him. He said, “I feel deep concern for these people. They have already been with me three days. They don’t have anything to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry. If I do, they will become too weak on their way home.”
33 His disciples answered him. “There is nothing here,” they said. “Where could we get enough bread to feed this large crowd?”
34 “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.
“Seven,” they replied, “and a few small fish.”
35 Jesus told the crowd to sit down on the ground. 36 He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks. Then he broke them and gave them to the disciples. And the disciples passed them out to the people. 37 All of them ate and were satisfied. After that, the disciples picked up seven baskets of leftover pieces. 38 The number of men who ate was 4,000. Women and children also ate. 39 After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat. He went to the area near Magadan.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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