Matthew 15:10-20

International Children’s Bible

¹⁰ Jesus called the crowd to him. He said, “Listen and understand what I am saying. ¹¹ It is not what a person puts into his mouth that makes him unclean. It is what comes out of his mouth that makes him unclean.”

¹² Then his followers came to Jesus and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees are angry because of what you said?”

¹³ Jesus answered, “Every plant that my Father in heaven has not planted himself will be pulled up by the roots. ¹⁴ Stay away from the Pharisees. They are blind leaders.^[a] And if a blind man leads another blind man, then both men will fall into a ditch.”

¹⁵ Peter said, “Explain the story to us.”

¹⁶ Jesus said, “You still have trouble understanding? ¹⁷ Surely you know that all the food that enters the mouth goes into the stomach. Then that food goes out of the body. ¹⁸ But what a person says with his mouth comes from the way he thinks. And these are the things that make him unclean. ¹⁹ Out of the mind come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, stealing, lying, and saying bad things against other people. ²⁰ These things make a person unclean. But eating with unwashed hands does not make him unclean.”