Matthew 15
15
1Then there come to Jesus from Jerusalem Pharisees and scribes, saying, 2Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. 3And he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4For God said, Honor thy father and thy mother: and, He that speaketh evil of father or mother, let him die the death. 5But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, That wherewith thou mightest have been profited by me is given to God; 6he shall not honor his father. And ye have made void the word of God because of your tradition. 7Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,
8This people honoreth me with their lips;
But their heart is far from me.
9But in vain do they worship me,
Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men.
10And he called to him the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: 11Not that which entereth into the mouth defileth the man; but that which proceedeth out of the mouth, this defileth the man. 12Then came the disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, when they heard this saying? 13But he answered and said, Every plant which my heavenly Father planted not, shall be rooted up. 14Let them alone: they are blind guides. And if the blind guide the blind, both shall fall into a pit. 15And Peter answered and said unto him, Declare unto us the parable. 16And he said, Are ye also even yet without understanding? 17Perceive ye not, that whatsoever goeth into the mouth passeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? 18But the things which proceed out of the mouth come forth out of the heart; and they defile the man. 19For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, railings: 20these are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not the man.
21And Jesus went out thence, and withdrew into the parts of Tyre and Sidon. 22And behold, a Canaanitish woman came out from those borders, and cried, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a demon. 23But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. 24But he answered and said, I was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 25But she came and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. 26And he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread and cast it to the dogs. 27But she said, Yea, Lord: for even the 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 done unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was healed from that hour.
29And Jesus departed thence, and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee; and he went up into the mountain, and sat there. 30And there came unto him great multitudes, having with them the lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and they cast them down at his feet; and he healed them: 31insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb speaking, the maimed whole, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing: and they glorified the God of Israel.
32And Jesus called unto him his disciples, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days and have nothing to eat: and I would not send them away fasting, lest haply they faint on the way. 33And the disciples say unto him, Whence should we have so many loaves in a desert place as to fill so great a multitude? 34And Jesus said unto them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven, and a few small fishes. 35And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground; 36and he took the seven loaves and the fishes; and he gave thanks and brake, and gave to the disciples, and the disciples to the multitudes. 37And they all ate, and were filled: and they took up that which remained over of the broken pieces, seven baskets full. 38And they that did eat were four thousand men, besides women and children. 39And he sent away the multitudes, and entered into the boat, and came into the borders of Magadan.
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Matthew 15: ASV
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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.