1 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, |
2 "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!" |
3 Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? |
4 For God said, 'Honor your father and mother'1 15:4 Exodus 20:12; Deut. 5:16 and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.'2 15:4 Exodus 21:17; Lev. 20:9 |
5 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' |
6 he is not to 'honor his father3 15:6 Some manuscripts father or his mother ' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. |
7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
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8 " 'These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
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9 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.'4 15:9 Isaiah 29:13 " |
10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand. |
11 What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.' " |
12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?" |
13 He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. |
14 Leave them; they are blind guides.5 15:14 Some manuscripts guides of the blind If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit." |
15 Peter said, "Explain the parable to us." |
16 "Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them. |
17 "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? |
18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' |
19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. |
20 These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.' " |
