Matthew 15:1–20

Debate Over Tradition

Mark 7:1–23

15Then ^athe scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, ^2b“Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”

³He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? ⁴For God commanded, saying, ^c‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ^d‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ ⁵But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, ^e“Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God”—⁶then he need not honor his father ¹or mother.’ Thus you have made the ²commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. ^7fHypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:

⁸‘These ^gpeople ³draw near to Me with their mouth,

And honor Me with their lips,

But their heart is far from Me.

⁹And in vain they worship Me,

^hTeaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

¹⁰ⁱWhen He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear and understand: ^11jNot what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”

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

¹³But He answered and said, ^k“Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. ¹⁴Let them alone. ^lThey are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.”

^15mThen Peter answered and said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.”

¹⁶So Jesus said, ⁿ“Are you also still without understanding? ¹⁷Do you not yet understand that ^owhatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? ¹⁸But ^pthose things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. ^19qFor out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. ²⁰These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”