The Lord’s Comfort for Zion
1 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
you who seek the Lord:
look to the rock from which you were hewn,
and to the quarry from which you were dug.
2 Look to Abraham your father
and to Sarah who bore you;
for he was but one when I called him,
that I might bless him and multiply him.
3 For the Lord ecomforts Zion;
he comforts all her waste places
and fmakes her wilderness like gEden,
her desert like the hgarden of the Lord;
joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the voice of song.
4 “Give attention to me, my people,
and give ear to me, my nation;
for ia law1 will go out from me,
and I will set my justice for a jlight to the peoples.
5 My krighteousness draws near,
my salvation has gone out,
and my arms will judge the peoples;
the coastlands hope for me,
and for my arm they wait.
6 lLift up your eyes to the heavens,
and look at the earth beneath;
for mthe heavens vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment,
and they who dwell in it will die in like manner;2
but my salvation will be forever,
and my righteousness will never be dismayed.
7 “Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
the people in whose nheart is my law;
fear not the reproach of man,
nor be dismayed at their revilings.
8 For the omoth will eat them up like a garment,
and the worm will eat them like wool,
but my righteousness will be forever,
and my salvation to all generations.”
23 Now before faith came, we were held captive munder the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian nuntil Christ came, in order that we might be ojustified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were pbaptized into Christ have qput on Christ. 28 There is rneither Jew nor Greek, there is sneither slave1 nor free, there is tno male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And uif you are vChrist’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
Traditions and Commandments
1 yNow when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were zdefiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly,1 holding to the atradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash.2 And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the bwashing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.3) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 And he said to them, c“Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,
d“‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
7 in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the ecommandments of men.’
8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, f‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, g‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)4— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
What Defiles a Person
14 hAnd he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 iThere is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, jbut the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”5 17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, k“Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?”6 (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 lFor from within, out of the mheart of man, come evil thoughts, nsexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
