Mark 7:14–23

¹⁴Again Jesus called the crowd to him. He said, “Listen to me, everyone. Understand this. ^15/16Nothing outside of you can make you ‘unclean’ by going into you. It is what comes out of you that makes you ‘unclean.’ ”

¹⁷Then he left the crowd and entered the house. His disciples asked him about this teaching.

¹⁸“Don’t you understand?” Jesus asked. “Don’t you see? Nothing that enters people from the outside can make them ‘unclean.’ ¹⁹It doesn’t go into the heart. It goes into the stomach. Then it goes out of the body.” In saying this, Jesus was calling all foods “clean.”

²⁰He went on to say, “What comes out of people makes them ‘unclean.’ ²¹Evil thoughts come from the inside, from people’s hearts. So do sexual sins, stealing and murder. Adultery, ²²greed, hate and cheating come from people’s hearts too. So do desires that are not pure, and wanting what belongs to others. And so do telling lies about others and being proud and being foolish. ²³All those evil things come from inside a person. They make him ‘unclean.’ ”