Matthew 15:8–19

⁸‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me;^*

⁹in vain do they worship me,

teaching human precepts as doctrines.’ ”^*

Things That Defile

¹⁰Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: ¹¹it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.”^{* 12}Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” ¹³He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.^{* 14}Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind.^b And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.”^{* 15}But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.”^{* 16}Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding?^{* 17}Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and goes out into the sewer? ¹⁸But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles.^{* 19}For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.^*