Matthew 15

The Tradition of the Elders

15Then ^cPharisees and scribes came from Jerusalem to Jesus and asked, ^d2“Why do Your disciples ^ebreak the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat!” ^fg

³He answered them, “And why do you break God’s commandment because of your tradition? ⁴For God said: ^h

Honor your father and your mother; ^ij and,

The one who speaks evil of father or mother

must be put to death. ^kl

⁵But you say, ‘Whoever tells his father or mother, “Whatever benefit you might have received from me is a gift committed to the temple”— ⁶he does not have to honor his father.’ ^mIn this way, you have revoked God’s word ⁿbecause of your tradition. ⁷Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said:

⁸These people ^ohonor Me with their lips,

but their heart is far from Me.

⁹They worship Me in vain,

teaching as doctrines the commands of men.” ^pq

Defilement Is from Within

¹⁰Summoning the crowd, He told them, “Listen and understand: ¹¹It’s not what goes into the mouth that defiles ^ra man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” ^s

¹²Then the disciples came up and told Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard this statement?”

¹³He replied, “Every plant that My heavenly Father didn’t plant will be uprooted. ^t14Leave them alone! They are blind guides. ^uAnd if the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.” ^v

¹⁵Then Peter replied to Him, “Explain this parable to us.” ^w

¹⁶“Are even you still lacking in understanding?” He ^xasked. ¹⁷“Don’t you realize ^ythat whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated? ^z18But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this defiles a man. ^a19For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, ^bblasphemies. ^c20These are the things that defile a man, but eating with unwashed hands does not defile a man.” ^d

A Gentile Mother’s Faith

²¹When Jesus left there, ^eHe withdrew to the area of Tyre and Sidon. ^f22Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out, ^g“Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is cruelly tormented by a demon.” ^h

²³Yet He did not say a word to her. So His disciples ⁱapproached Him and urged Him, “Send her away because she cries out after us.” ^j

²⁴He replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ^k

²⁵But she came, knelt before Him, and said, “Lord, help me!”

²⁶He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to their dogs.” ^l

²⁷“Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table!”

²⁸Then Jesus replied to her, “^•Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want.” And from that moment ^mher daughter was cured. ⁿ

Healing Many People

²⁹Moving on from there, ^oJesus passed along the Sea of Galilee. ^pHe went up on a mountain and sat there, ³⁰and large crowds came to Him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, those unable to speak, and many others. They put them at His feet, and He healed them. ³¹So the crowd was amazed when they saw those unable to speak talking, the deformed restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. ^qAnd they gave glory to the God of Israel.

Feeding 4,000

³²Now Jesus summoned His disciples and said, ^r“I have compassion on the crowd, because they’ve already stayed with Me three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry; otherwise they might collapse on the way.”

³³The disciples said to Him, “Where could we get enough bread in this desolate place ^sto fill such a crowd?”

³⁴“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked them.

“Seven,” they said, “and a few small fish.”

³⁵After commanding the crowd to sit down on the ground, ³⁶He took the seven loaves and the fish, and He gave thanks, broke them, and kept on giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ^t37They all ate and were filled. Then they collected the leftover pieces—seven large baskets full. ³⁸Now those who ate were 4,000 men, besides women and children. ³⁹After dismissing the crowds, He got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan. ^uv