Matthew 15

Tradition against the commandment

Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, ²“Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands before they eat.” ³Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?

⁴For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’a ⁵But you say that if anyone says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever you would have received from me is a gift devoted to God,’ ⁶he need not honor his father or mother with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

⁷You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you: ⁸‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.b ⁹They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’”c

What defiles a person

¹⁰Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, “Listen and understand. ¹¹A man is not defiled by what enters his mouth, but by what comes out of it.”d ¹²Then the disciples came to Him and said, “Are You aware that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?” ¹³But Jesus replied, “Every plant that My heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by its roots.e

¹⁴Disregard them! They are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”f ¹⁵Peter said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.” ¹⁶“Do you still not understand?” Jesus asked.

¹⁷“Do you not yet realize that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then is eliminated? ¹⁸But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a man.g ¹⁹For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.h

²⁰These are what defile a man, but eating with unwashed hands does not defile him.”

The faith of the Canaanite woman

²¹Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.i ²²And a Canaanite woman from that region came to Him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is miserably possessed by a demon.” ²³But Jesus did not answer a word. So His disciples came and urged Him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” ²⁴He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”j ²⁵The woman came and knelt before Him. “Lord, help me!” she said.

²⁶But Jesus replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”k ²⁷“Yes, Lord,” she said, “even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” ²⁸“O woman,” Jesus answered, “your faith is great! Let it be done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.l

The feeding of the four thousand

²⁹Moving on from there, Jesus went along the Sea of Galilee. Then He went up on a mountain and sat down. ³⁰Large crowds came to Him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and laid them at His feet, and He healed them. ³¹The crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.

³²Then Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, “I have compassion for this crowd, because they have already been with Me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may faint along the way.” ³³The disciples replied, “Where in this desolate place could we find enough bread to feed such a large crowd?” ³⁴“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked. “Seven,” they replied, “and a few small fish.” ³⁵And He instructed the crowd to sit down on the ground.

³⁶Taking the seven loaves and the fish, He gave thanks and broke them. Then He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. ³⁷They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. ³⁸A total of four thousand men were fed, in addition to women and children.

³⁹After Jesus had dismissed the crowds, He got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.