New Testament in a Year

¹⁴ Clean and Unclean.^[a] Then he called the people to him and said to them: “Listen to me, all of you, and understand. ¹⁵ There is nothing that goes into a person from outside that can defile him. The things that come out of a person are what defile him. [ ¹⁶ If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!]”^[b]

¹⁷ When he had gone into the house, away from the crowds, his disciples questioned him about the parable. ¹⁸ He said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not realize that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ since it enters not into the heart but into the stomach and is discharged into the sewer?” Thus, he pronounced all foods clean.

²⁰ Then he went on, “It is what comes out of a person that defiles. ²¹ For from within, from the human heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, ²² adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. ²³ All these evils come from within, and they defile a person.”

²⁴ The Faith of a Gentile Woman.^[c] He moved on from that place to the region of Tyre. He went into a house and did not want anyone to know he was there, but he was not able to avoid being recognized. ²⁵ Almost immediately, a woman whose daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit heard about him and hastened to fall down at his feet. ²⁶ The woman was a Gentile of Syrophoenician origin, and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷ Jesus said to her, “Let the children be fed first. For it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁸ She replied, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs under the table eat the scraps from the children.” ²⁹ Then Jesus said to her, “For saying this, you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.” ³⁰ And when she returned home, she found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.

³¹ Jesus Heals a Deaf Man.^[d] Returning from the region of Tyre, Jesus traveled by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, and into the region of the Decapolis. ³² Thereupon people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. ³³ He took him aside, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue. ³⁴ Then, looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha!” which means, “Be opened!” ³⁵ At once, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he spoke properly.

³⁶ Then he ordered them not to tell anyone, but the more he ordered them not to do so, the more widely they proclaimed it. ³⁷ Their astonishment was beyond measure. “He has done all things well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf able to hear and the mute able to speak.”