New Testament in a Year

The Heart of Man

¹⁴ And after He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵ there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. ^16 [a][And if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”]

¹⁷ And when He had left the crowd and entered ^(A)the house, ^(B)His disciples were asking Him about the parable. ¹⁸ And He *said to them, “Are you lacking understanding in this way as well? Do you not ^[b]perceive that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and goes to the sewer?” (Thus He declared ^(C)all foods ^(D)clean.) ²⁰ And He was saying, “^(E)That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. ²¹ For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, ²² coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, ^[c](F)envy, slander, ^[d]pride, and foolishness. ²³ All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”

A Gentile Woman’s Faith

^24 (G)Now Jesus stood up and went away from there to the region of ^(H)Tyre^[e]. And when He had entered a house, He was wanting no one to know of it; ^[f]yet He could not escape notice. ²⁵ But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. ²⁶ Now the woman was a ^[g]Greek, of Syrophoenician descent. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ And He was saying to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not ^[h]good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁸ But she answered and *said to Him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.” ²⁹ And He said to her, “Because of this ^[i]answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” ³⁰ And going back to her home, she found the child ^[j]lying on the bed, the demon having left.

The Deaf Hear, the Mute Speak

^31 (I)And again He went out from the region of ^(J)Tyre, and came through Sidon to ^(K)the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the ^(L)Decapolis. ³² And they *brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they *pleaded with Him to ^(M)lay His hand on him. ^33 (N)And Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after ^(O)spitting, He touched his tongue; ³⁴ and looking up to heaven with a ^(P)sigh, He *said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” ³⁵ And his ears were opened, and the ^[k]impediment of his tongue ^[l]was removed, and he began speaking plainly. ³⁶ And ^(Q)He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He was ordering them, the more widely they ^(R)continued to proclaim it. ³⁷ And they were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”