Book of Common Prayer

10 My brothers, here is something you should know. Long ago, all our fathers were led by the cloud of God over them. They all went through the Red Sea.

² It was as if they were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

³ They all ate the same food from the Spirit.

⁴ They all drank the same water sent by the Spirit. The water they drank came from a Rock of the Spirit which went with them. That Rock was Christ.

⁵ But God was not pleased with most of them. They died in the wilderness.

⁶ This teaches us not to want wrong things as they did.

⁷ Do not worship idols, as some of them did. The holy writings say, `The people sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up and danced.'

⁸ We must not use sex the wrong way as some of them did. Twenty-three thousand people died in one day!

⁹ We must not test the Lord, as some of them did. They were bitten by bad snakes and died!

¹⁰ Do not grumble, as some of them did. They were killed by the Angel of Death!

¹¹ These things happened to them to teach other people. They were written in the holy writings to teach us who are living in the last days of the world.

¹² Therefore, when a person thinks, `I am strong; I can stand,' let that person be careful, or he will fall.

¹³ No testing has come to you that other people do not have. But God will not fail you. He will not allow the testing to be too hard for you. No. When the testing comes, God will make a way out for you, so that you can go through the testing.

7 Then some Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem came to Jesus.

² They saw some of the disciples eating food. They had not washed their hands before they ate. The Pharisees said that was wrong.

³ They and all the Jews keep the laws made by men. God did not give them those laws. They do not eat until they wash their hands very well.

⁴ When they come from the market, they do not eat until they have washed themselves. They also keep many other laws such as washing cups, pots, brass pans, and beds.

⁵ The Pharisees and the scribes asked Jesus, `Why do your disciples not keep the law our fathers made? Why do they eat with hands that are not clean?'

^6-7 esus said to them, `Isaiah spoke the truth about you people! You are not true to yourselves! He wrote about you this way: "These people respect me with their mouths. But their hearts are far from me. They do not mean it in their hearts when they worship me. Their teachings are only words of men."

⁸ `You do not keep the law of God, but you keep the laws made by people. Those laws are about washing pots and cups. You do many other things like that also.

⁹ `You break God's law so that you can keep your own law.

¹⁰ Moses said, "Respect your father and your mother. Anyone who says wrong things to his father or his mother will die."

¹¹ You say, "Tell your father or your mother that what you were going to give to them is Corban." (That means a gift to God.)

¹² So you stop him from doing anything for his father and mother.

¹³ You make God's law to mean nothing so that you can keep your own laws. You do many other things like that also.'

¹⁴ Then Jesus called the people to him again. He said, `Listen to me, all of you, and understand what I say.

¹⁵ What goes into a person's mouth does not make him dirty. But what comes out of a person's mouth makes him dirty.

¹⁶ Everyone who has ears to hear, listen!'

¹⁷ Jesus left the people and went into a house. His disciples asked him the meaning of the story.

¹⁸ He said, `Do you still not understand? Do you not know this? What goes into a person from the outside cannot make a person dirty.

¹⁹ It does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and then it goes out of the body.' By saying this, Jesus meant that food does not make a person dirty.

²⁰ But he said, `What comes out of a person makes him dirty. 21,

²¹ Here is what comes from the heart: wrong thoughts, all kinds of adultery, stealing, killing, wanting things that other people have, doing very wrong things, fooling people, breaking the law, jealousy, saying wrong things about people, being proud, being foolish.

²² All these wrong things come from a person's heart and make him dirty.'

²³ Then Jesus went away to the country of Tyre and Sidon. He went into a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. But he could not hide from the people.