Matthew 15
15
Matthew 15
1¶ Then certain scribes and Pharisees of Jerusalem came unto Jesus, saying,
2Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.
3But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
4For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother, and, He that curses father or mother, let him die without recourse.
5But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, Whatever I might have helped thee with is already my offering unto God,
6and now has no need to honour his father or his mother with succour. Thus ye have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.
7 Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,
8This people draws nigh unto me with their mouth and honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
9But in vain do they worship me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men.
10¶ And calling the multitude unto him, he said unto them, Hear and understand:
11not that which goes into the mouth defiles the man; but that which comes out of the mouth, this defiles the man.
12Then his disciples came and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this word?
13But he answered and said, Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up.
14Let them alone; they are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into a pit.
15Then Peter answered and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.
16And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?
17Do not ye yet understand that whatever enters in at the mouth goes into the belly and is cast out into the draught?
18But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man.
19For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
20these are the things which defile the man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.
21¶ Then Jesus left there and departed into the parts of Tyre and Sidon.
22And, behold, a woman of Canaan having come out of the same borders cried unto him, saying, Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me; my daughter is sick, possessed by a demon.
23But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away, for she cries out after us.
24But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
25Then she came and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
26But he answered and said, It is not good to take the children’s bread and to cast it to the little dogs.
27And she said, Yes, Lord, yet the little dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.
28Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou desire. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
29¶ And Jesus left there and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee and went up into the mountain and sat down there.
30And many people came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many other sick and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them,
31insomuch that the multitude wondered when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see, and they glorified the God of Israel.
32Then Jesus called his disciples unto him and said, I have mercy on the multitude because they persevere with me now three days and have nothing to eat, and I desire not to send them away fasting lest they faint in the way.
33Then his disciples say unto him, From where do we have so much bread in the wilderness as to satisfy so great a multitude?
34And Jesus said unto them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven and a few little fishes.
35And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.
36And he took the seven loaves and the fishes and gave thanks and broke them and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.
37And they all ate and were filled, and they took up of the broken food that was left seven baskets full.
38And those that ate were four thousand men besides women and children.
39And he sent away the multitude and took ship and came into the borders of Magdala.
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The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International
Matthew 15
15
What Pollutes Your Life
1-2After that, Pharisees and religion scholars came to Jesus all the way from Jerusalem, criticizing, “Why do your disciples play fast and loose with the rules?”
3-9But Jesus put it right back on them. “Why do you use your rules to play fast and loose with God’s commands? God clearly says, ‘Respect your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone denouncing father or mother should be killed.’ But you weasel around that by saying, ‘Whoever wants to, can say to father and mother, What I owed to you I’ve given to God.’ That can hardly be called respecting a parent. You cancel God’s command by your rules. Frauds! Isaiah’s prophecy of you hit the bull’s-eye:
These people make a big show of saying the right thing,
but their heart isn’t in it.
They act like they’re worshiping me,
but they don’t mean it.
They just use me as a cover
for teaching whatever suits their fancy.”
10-11He then called the crowd together and said, “Listen, and take this to heart. It’s not what you swallow that pollutes your life, but what you vomit up.”
12Later his disciples came and told him, “Did you know how upset the Pharisees were when they heard what you said?”
13-14Jesus shrugged it off. “Every tree that wasn’t planted by my Father in heaven will be pulled up by its roots. Forget them. They are blind men leading blind men. When a blind man leads a blind man, they both end up in the ditch.”
15Peter said, “I don’t get it. Put it in plain language.”
16-20Jesus replied, “You, too? Are you being willfully stupid? Don’t you know that anything that is swallowed works its way through the intestines and is finally defecated? But what comes out of the mouth gets its start in the heart. It’s from the heart that we vomit up evil arguments, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, lies, and cussing. That’s what pollutes. Eating or not eating certain foods, washing or not washing your hands—that’s neither here nor there.”
Healing the People
21-22From there Jesus took a trip to Tyre and Sidon. They had hardly arrived when a Canaanite woman came down from the hills and pleaded, “Mercy, Master, Son of David! My daughter is cruelly afflicted by an evil spirit.”
23Jesus ignored her. The disciples came and complained, “Now she’s bothering us. Would you please take care of her? She’s driving us crazy.”
24Jesus refused, telling them, “I’ve got my hands full dealing with the lost sheep of Israel.”
25Then the woman came back to Jesus, dropped to her knees, and begged. “Master, help me.”
26He said, “It’s not right to take bread out of children’s mouths and throw it to dogs.”
27She was quick: “You’re right, Master, but beggar dogs do get scraps from the master’s table.”
28Jesus gave in. “Oh, woman, your faith is something else. What you want is what you get!” Right then her daughter became well.
29-31After Jesus returned, he walked along Lake Galilee and then climbed a mountain and took his place, ready to receive visitors. They came, tons of them, bringing along the paraplegic, the blind, the maimed, the mute—all sorts of people in need—and more or less threw them down at Jesus’ feet to see what he would do with them. He healed them. When the people saw the mutes speaking, the maimed healthy, the paraplegics walking around, the blind looking around, they were astonished and let everyone know that God was blazingly alive among them.
* * *
32But Jesus wasn’t finished with them. He called his disciples and said, “I hurt for these people. For three days now they’ve been with me, and now they have nothing to eat. I can’t send them away without a meal—they’d probably collapse on the road.”
33His disciples said, “But where in this deserted place are you going to dig up enough food for a meal?”
34-39Jesus asked, “How much bread do you have?”
“Seven loaves,” they said, “plus a few fish.” At that, Jesus directed the people to sit down. He took the seven loaves and the fish. After giving thanks, he divided it up and gave it to the people. Everyone ate. They had all they wanted. It took seven large baskets to collect the leftovers. Over four thousand people ate their fill at that meal. After Jesus sent them away, he climbed in the boat and crossed over to the Magadan hills.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.