Matthew 15:1–11

That Which Defiles

15:1–20pp—Mk 7:1–23

15Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, ²“Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”^q

³Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’^ar and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’^{bs 5}But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ ⁶they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. ⁷You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:

⁸“ ‘These people honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

⁹They worship me in vain;

their teachings are merely human rules.^t’^cu”

¹⁰Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. ¹¹What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them,^v but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”^w