St Matthew 15
15
1THEN came to him from Jerusalem scribes and Pharisees, saying:
2Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the ancients? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
3But he answering, said to them: Why do you also transgress the commandment of God for your tradition? For God said:
4Honour thy father and mother: And: He that shall curse father or mother, let him die the death.
5But you say: Whosoever shall say to father or mother, The gift whatsoever proceedeth from me, shall profit thee.
6And he shall not honour his father or his mother: and you have made void the commandment of God for your tradition.
7Hypocrites, well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying:
8This people honoureth me with their lips: but their heart is far from me.
9And in vain do they worship me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men.
10And having called together the multitudes unto him, he said to them: Hear ye and understand.
11Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man: but what cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
12Then came his disciples, and said to him: Dost thou know that the Pharisees, when they heard this word, were scandalized?
13But he answering them, said: Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.
14Let them alone: they are blind, and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit.
15And Peter answering, said to him: Expound to us this parable.
16But he said: Are you also yet without understanding?
17Do you not understand, that whatsoever entereth into the mouth, goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the privy?
18But the things which proceed out of the mouth, come forth from the heart, and those things defile a man.
19For from the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies.
20These are the things that defile a man. But to eat with unwashed hands doth not defile a man.
21And Jesus went from thence, and retired into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.
22And behold a woman of Canaan who came out of those coasts, crying out, said to him: Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David: my daughter is grieviously troubled by the devil.
23Who answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying: Send her away, for she crieth after us:
24And he answering, said: I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel.
25But she came and adored him, saying: Lord, help me.
26Who answering, said: It is not good to take the bread of the children, and to cast it to the dogs.
27But she said: Yea, Lord; for the whelps also eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters.
28Then Jesus answering, said to her: O woman, great is thy faith: be it done to thee as thou wilt: and her daughter was cured from that hour.
29And when Jesus had passed away from thence, he came nigh the sea of Galilee. And going up into a mountain, he sat there.
30And there came to him great multitudes, having with them the dumb, the blind, the lame, the maimed, and many others: and they cast them down at his feet, and he healed them:
31So that the multitudes marvelled seeing the dumb speak, the lame walk, and the blind see: and they glorified the God of Israel.
32And Jesus called together his disciples, and said: I have compassion on the multitudes, because they continue with me now three days, and have not what to eat, and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.
33And the disciples say unto him: Whence then should we have so many loaves in the desert, as to fill so great a multitude?
34And Jesus said to them: How many loaves have you? But they said: Seven, and a few little fishes.
35And he commanded the multitude to sit down upon the ground.
36And taking the seven loaves and the fishes, and giving thanks, he brake, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the people.
37And they did all eat, and had their fill. And they took up seven baskets full, of what remained of the fragments.
38And they that did eat, were four thousand men, beside children and women.
39And having dismissed the multitude, he went up into a boat, and came into the coasts of Magedan.
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St Matthew 15: DRC1752
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
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.