Matthew 15–16

Chapter 15

Tradition and Commandment

^1aThen some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus ^bfrom Jerusalem and said,

²“Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they ^ado not wash their hands when they eat bread.”

³And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?

⁴“For God said, ‘^aHonor your father and mother,’ and, ‘^bHe who speaks evil of father or mother is to ¹be put to death.’

⁵“But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been ¹given to God,”

⁶he is not to honor his father or his mother¹.’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

⁷“You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you:

⁸‘^aThis people honors Me with their lips,

But their heart is far away from Me.

⁹‘But in vain do they worship Me,

Teaching as ^adoctrines the precepts of men.’ ”

¹⁰After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand.

¹¹“^aIt is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”

¹²Then the disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were ¹offended when they heard this statement?”

¹³But He answered and said, “^aEvery plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted.

¹⁴“Let them alone; ^athey are blind guides ¹of the blind. And ^bif a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

The Heart of Man

¹⁵Peter ¹said to Him, “^aExplain the parable to us.”

¹⁶¹Jesus said, “Are you still lacking in understanding also?

¹⁷“Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is ¹eliminated?

¹⁸“But ^athe things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.

¹⁹“^aFor out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, ¹fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.

²⁰“These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.”

The Syrophoenician Woman

^21aJesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of ^bTyre and Sidon.

²²And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, ^aSon of David; my daughter is cruelly ^bdemon-possessed.”

²³But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting ¹at us.”

²⁴But He answered and said, “I was sent only to ^athe lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

²⁵But she came and ^abegan ¹to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”

²⁶And He answered and said, “It is not ¹good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

²⁷But she said, “Yes, Lord; ¹but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”

²⁸Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, ^ayour faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed ¹at once.

Healing Crowds

^29aDeparting from there, Jesus went along by ^bthe Sea of Galilee, and having gone up on the mountain, He was sitting there.

³⁰And ¹large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and ^aHe healed them.

³¹So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled ¹restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they ^aglorified the God of Israel.

Four Thousand Fed

^32aAnd Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, “^bI feel compassion for the ¹people, because they ²have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.”

³³The disciples said to Him, “Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?”

³⁴And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few small fish.”

³⁵And He directed the ¹people to ²sit down on the ground;

³⁶and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and ^agiving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.

³⁷And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large ^abaskets full.

³⁸And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.

³⁹And sending away the crowds, Jesus got into ^athe boat and came to the region of ^bMagadan.

Chapter 16

Pharisees Test Jesus

^1aThe ^bPharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they ^casked Him to show them a ¹sign from heaven.

²But He replied to them, “^1aWhen it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’

³“And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ ^aDo you know how to discern the ¹appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?

⁴“^aAn evil and adulterous generation seeks after a ¹sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” And He left them and went away.

⁵And the disciples came to the other side of the sea, but they had forgotten to bring any bread.

⁶And Jesus said to them, “Watch out and ^abeware of the ¹leaven of the ^bPharisees and Sadducees.”

⁷They began to discuss this among themselves, saying, “He said that because we did not bring any bread.”

⁸But Jesus, aware of this, said, “^aYou men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread?

⁹“Do you not yet understand or remember ^athe five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets full you picked up?

¹⁰“Or ^athe seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets full you picked up?

¹¹“How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But ^abeware of the ¹leaven of the ^bPharisees and Sadducees.”

¹²Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the ^aPharisees and Sadducees.

Peter’s Confession of Christ

^13aNow when Jesus came into the district of ^bCaesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that ^cthe Son of Man is?”

¹⁴And they said, “Some say ^aJohn the Baptist; and others, ^1bElijah; but still others, ²Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”

¹⁵He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

¹⁶Simon Peter answered, “You are ^1athe Christ, ^bthe Son of ^cthe living God.”

¹⁷And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, ^aSimon ¹Barjona, because ^bflesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

¹⁸“I also say to you that you are ^1aPeter, and upon this ²rock I will build My church; and the gates of ^bHades will not overpower it.

¹⁹“I will give you ^athe keys of the kingdom of heaven; and ^bwhatever you bind on earth ¹shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth ²shall have been loosed in heaven.”

^20aThen He ¹warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was ^2bthe Christ.

Jesus Foretells His Death

^21aFrom that time ¹Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and ^bsuffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.

²²Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “¹God forbid it, Lord! This shall never ²happen to You.”

²³But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, ^aSatan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on ¹God’s interests, but man’s.”

Discipleship Is Costly

²⁴Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and ^atake up his cross and follow Me.

²⁵“For ^awhoever wishes to save his ¹life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

²⁶“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

²⁷“For the ^aSon of Man ^bis going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and ^cwill then ¹repay every man according to his ²deeds.

²⁸“Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the ^aSon of Man ^bcoming in His kingdom.”