Matthew 15; Mark 7

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Matthew 15

Traditions and Commandments

eThen Pharisees and fscribes came to Jesus ffrom Jerusalem and said, gWhy do your disciples break hthe tradition of the elders? jFor they do not wash their hands when they eat. He answered them, And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, kHonor your father and your mother, and, lWhoever reviles father or mother must surely die. But you say, If anyone tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is given to God,1 he need not honor his father. So for the sake of your tradition you have mmade void the word2 of God. nYou hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

oThis people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me;

in vain do they worship me,

teaching as pdoctrines the commandments of men.

What Defiles a Person

10 And he called the people to him and said to them, qHear and understand: 11 rit is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person. 12 Then the disciples came and said to him, Do you know that the Pharisees were soffended when they heard this saying? 13 He answered, tEvery plant that my heavenly Father has not planted uwill be rooted up. 14 Let them alone; vthey are blind guides.3 And wif the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit. 15 But Peter said to him, xExplain the parable to us. 16 And he said, yAre you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that zwhatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled?4 18 But awhat comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come bevil thoughts, cmurder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, dslander. 20 eThese are what defile a person. But fto eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.

The Faith of a Canaanite Woman

21 gAnd Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, ha Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, iHave mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon. 23 But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, jSend her away, for she is crying out after us. 24 He answered, kI was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 25 But she came and lknelt before him, saying, Lord, help me. 26 And he answered, It is not right to take the children’s bread and mthrow it to the dogs. 27 She said, Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat nthe crumbs that fall from their masters’ table. 28 Then Jesus answered her, O woman, ogreat is your faith! pBe it done for you as you desire. qAnd her daughter was phealed instantly.5

Jesus Heals Many

29 rJesus went on from there and walked sbeside the Sea of Galilee. And he twent up on the mountain and sat down there. 30 And great crowds came to him, bringing with them uthe lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, 31 vso that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, wthe crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And xthey glorified ythe God of Israel.

Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand

32 zThen Jesus called his disciples to him and said, aI have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way. 33 And the disciples said to him, Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd? 34 And Jesus said to them, How many loaves do you have? They said, bSeven, and a few small fish. 35 And directing the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36 he took the seven loaves and the fish, and chaving given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 37 And dthey all ate and were satisfied. And they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 38 Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. 39 And after sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of eMagadan.


Mark 7

Traditions and Commandments

pNow when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes qwho had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were rdefiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly,1 holding to sthe tradition of tthe elders, 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 uthe washing of vcups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.3) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, Why do your disciples not walk according to sthe tradition of tthe elders, wbut eat with rdefiled hands? And he said to them, Well did Isaiah prophesy of you xhypocrites, as it is written,

yThis people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me;

in vain do they worship me,

teaching as zdoctrines the commandments of men.

You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.

And he said to them, You have a fine way of arejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, bHonor your father and your mother; and, cWhoever 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 dmaking void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.

What Defiles a Person

14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, eHear 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.5 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?6 (kThus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, lWhat 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.7 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.

Jesus Heals a Deaf Man

31 aThen he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to bthe Sea of Galilee, in the region of the cDecapolis. 32 And they brought to him da man who was deaf and dhad a speech impediment, and they begged him to elay his hand on him. 33 And ftaking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and fafter spitting touched his tongue. 34 And glooking up to heaven, hhe sighed and said to him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. 35 dAnd his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 And iJesus8 charged them to tell no one. But jthe more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 And they were kastonished beyond measure, saying, He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.