What Defiles a Person

14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, ^e“Hear me, all of you, and understand:

15 ^fThere is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”¹ 17 And when he had entered ^gthe house and left the people, ^hhis disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then ⁱare 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 ^jbut his stomach, and is expelled?”² (^kThus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, ^l“What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, ^mmurder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, ⁿsensuality, ^oenvy, ^pslander, ^qpride, ^rfoolishness. 23 ^sAll these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

The Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith

24 And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon.³ And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. 25 But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. 26 ^tNow the woman was a ^uGentile, ^va Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 And he said to her, “Let the children be ^wfed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and ^xthrow it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s ^ycrumbs.” 29 And he said to her, “For this statement you may ^zgo your way; the demon has left your daughter.” 30 And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.