Mark 7:5–15

⁵So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders^j instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”

⁶He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

“ ‘These people honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

⁷They worship me in vain;

their teachings are merely human rules.’^bk

⁸You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”^l

⁹And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe^c your own traditions!^{m 10}For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’^dn and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’^{eo 11}But you say^p that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)—¹²then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. ¹³Thus you nullify the word of God^q by your tradition^r that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”

¹⁴Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. ¹⁵Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.”