DEFILEMENT IS FROM WITHIN

10 Summoning the crowd, he told them, “Listen and understand: 11 It’s not what goes into the mouth that defilese a person, but what comes out of the mouth—this defiles a person.”f

12 Then the disciples came up and told him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?”

13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father didn’t plant will be uprooted.g 14 Leave them alone! They are blind guides.I And if the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”h

15 Then Peter said, “Explain this parable to us.”i

16 “Do you still lack understanding?” heJ asked. 17 “Don’t you realizeK that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated?L 18 But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this defiles a person.j 19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies,k slander.l