New Testament in a Year

¹⁴ Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and try to understand! ¹⁵ Nothing that goes into a person from the outside can make him unclean. It’s what comes out of a person that makes him unclean. ¹⁶ Let the person who has ears listen!” ^[a]

¹⁷ When he had left the people and gone home, his disciples asked him about this illustration.

¹⁸ Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand? Don’t you know that whatever goes into a person from the outside can’t make him unclean? ¹⁹ It doesn’t go into his thoughts but into his stomach and then into a toilet.” (By saying this, Jesus declared all foods acceptable.) ²⁰ He continued, “It’s what comes out of a person that makes him unclean. ²¹ Evil thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder, ²² adultery, greed, wickedness, cheating, shameless lust, envy, cursing, arrogance, and foolishness come from within a person. ²³ All these evils come from within and make a person unclean.”

The Faith of a Greek Woman^(A)

²⁴ Jesus left that place and went to the territory of Tyre. He didn’t want anyone to know that he was staying in a house there. However, it couldn’t be kept a secret.

²⁵ A woman whose little daughter had an evil spirit heard about Jesus. She went to him and bowed down. ²⁶ The woman happened to be Greek, born in Phoenicia in Syria. She asked him to force the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷ Jesus said to her, “First, let the children eat all they want. It’s not right to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”

²⁸ She answered him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat some of the children’s scraps.”

²⁹ Jesus said to her, “Because you have said this, go! The demon has left your daughter.”

³⁰ The woman went home and found the little child lying on her bed, and the demon was gone.

Jesus Cures a Deaf Man

³¹ Jesus then left the neighborhood of Tyre. He went through Sidon and the territory of the Ten Cities ^[b] to the Sea of Galilee.

³² Some people brought to him a man who was deaf and who also had a speech defect. They begged Jesus to lay his hand on him. ³³ Jesus took him away from the crowd to be alone with him. He put his fingers into the man’s ears, and after spitting, he touched the man’s tongue. ³⁴ Then he looked up to heaven, sighed, and said to the man, “Ephphatha!” which means, “Be opened!” ³⁵ At once the man could hear and talk normally.

³⁶ Jesus ordered the people not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them, the more they spread the news. ³⁷ Jesus completely amazed the people. They said, “He has done everything well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute talk.”