Matthew 15:8–19

^8o“ ‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me;

⁹in vain do they worship me,

teaching as ^pdoctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

What Defiles a Person

¹⁰And he called the people to him and said to them, ^q“Hear and understand: ^11rit is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” ¹²Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were ^soffended when they heard this saying?” ¹³He answered, ^t“Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted ^uwill be rooted up. ¹⁴Let them alone; ^vthey are blind guides.³ And ^wif the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” ¹⁵But Peter said to him, ^x“Explain the parable to us.” ¹⁶And he said, ^y“Are you also still without understanding? ¹⁷Do 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. ¹⁹For out of the heart come ^bevil thoughts, ^cmurder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, ^dslander.