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.”