Matthew 15:10-20
New English Translation
True Defilement
10 Then he called the crowd to him and said,[a] “Listen and understand. 11 What defiles a person is not what goes into the mouth; it is what[b] 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[c] heard this saying they were offended?” 13 And he replied,[d] “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted. 14 Leave them! They are blind guides.[e] If someone who is blind leads another who is blind,[f] both will fall into a pit.” 15 But Peter[g] said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” 16 Jesus[h] 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?[i] 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.”[j]
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- Matthew 15:10 tn Grk “And calling the crowd, he said to them.” The participle προσκαλεσάμενος (proskalesamenos) has been translated as attendant circumstance. The emphasis here is upon Jesus’ speaking to the crowd.
- Matthew 15:11 tn Grk “but what.”
- Matthew 15:12 sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.
- Matthew 15:13 tn Grk “And answering, he said.”
- Matthew 15:14 tc ‡ Most mss, some of which are significant, read “They are blind guides of the blind” (א2a C L N W Z Γ Δ Θ ƒ1, 13 33 579 700 1241 1424 M lat; SBL). The omission of “of the blind” is read by א*,2b B D 0237 Epiph. There is a distinct possibility of omission due to homoioarcton in א*; this manuscript has a word order variation which puts the word τυφλοί (tuphloi, “blind”) right before the word τυφλῶν (tuphlōn, “of the blind”). This does not explain the shorter reading, however, in the other witnesses, of which B and D are quite weighty. Internal considerations suggest that the shorter reading is autographic: “of the blind” was likely added by scribes to balance this phrase with Jesus’ following statement about the blind leading the blind, which clearly has two groups in view. A decision is difficult, but internal considerations here along with the strength of the witnesses argue that the shorter reading is more likely original. NA28 places τυφλῶν in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.
- Matthew 15:14 tn Grk “If blind leads blind.”
- Matthew 15:15 tn Grk “And answering, Peter said to him.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.
- Matthew 15:16 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
- Matthew 15:17 tn Or “into the latrine.”
- Matthew 15:20 tn Grk “but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a person.”
Matthew 15:10-20
International Standard Version
10 Then calling out to the crowd, he addressed them, “Listen and understand! 11 It is not what goes into the mouth that makes a person unclean. It is what comes out of the mouth that makes a person unclean.”
12 Then the disciples came and asked him, “Do you realize that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?”
13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind.[a] If one blind person leads another blind person, both will fall into a ditch.”
15 Then Peter told him, “Explain to us this[b] parable.”
16 Jesus[c] said, “Are you still so ignorant? 17 Don’t you know that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and then is expelled as waste? 18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and it is those things that make a person unclean. 19 It is out of the heart that evil thoughts come, as well as murder, adultery, sexual immorality, stealing, false testimony, and slander.[d] 20 These are the things that make a person unclean. But eating with unwashed hands doesn’t make a person unclean.”
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- Matthew 15:14 Other mss. lack of the blind
- Matthew 15:15 Other mss. read the
- Matthew 15:16 Lit. He
- Matthew 15:19 Or blasphemy
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