New Testament in a Year

¹⁴ Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “All of you listen,” he said, “and try to understand. ^15-16 [a]Your souls aren’t harmed by what you eat, but by what you think and say!”

¹⁷ Then he went into a house to get away from the crowds, and his disciples asked him what he meant by the statement he had just made.

¹⁸ “Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that what you eat won’t harm your soul? ¹⁹ For food doesn’t come in contact with your heart, but only passes through the digestive system.” (By saying this he showed that every kind of food is kosher.)

²⁰ And then he added, “It is the thought-life that pollutes. ²¹ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts of lust, theft, murder, adultery, ²² wanting what belongs to others, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, pride, and all other folly. ²³ All these vile things come from within; they are what pollute you and make you unfit for God.”

²⁴ Then he left Galilee and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon,^[b] and tried to keep it a secret that he was there, but couldn’t. For as usual the news of his arrival spread fast.

²⁵ Right away a woman came to him whose little girl was possessed by a demon. She had heard about Jesus and now she came and fell at his feet, ²⁶ and pled with him to release her child from the demon’s control. (But she was Syrophoenician—a “despised Gentile”!)

²⁷ Jesus told her, “First I should help my own family—the Jews.^[c] It isn’t right to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”

²⁸ She replied, “That’s true, sir, but even the puppies under the table are given some scraps from the children’s plates.”

²⁹ “Good!” he said. “You have answered well—so well that I have healed your little girl. Go on home, for the demon has left her!”

³⁰ And when she arrived home, her little girl was lying quietly in bed, and the demon was gone.

³¹ From Tyre he went to Sidon, then back to the Sea of Galilee by way of the Ten Towns. ³² A deaf man with a speech impediment was brought to him, and everyone begged Jesus to lay his hands on the man and heal him.

³³ Jesus led him away from the crowd and put his fingers into the man’s ears, then spat and touched the man’s tongue with the spittle. ³⁴ Then, looking up to heaven, he sighed and commanded, “Open!” ³⁵ Instantly the man could hear perfectly and speak plainly!

³⁶ Jesus told the crowd not to spread the news, but the more he forbade them, the more they made it known, ³⁷ for they were overcome with utter amazement. Again and again they said, “Everything he does is wonderful; he even corrects deafness and stammering!”