15:1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said,
15:2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat.”
15:3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?
15:4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.’
15:5 But you say that whoever tells father or mother, ‘Whatever support you might have had from me is given to God,’ then that person need not honor the father.
15:6 So, for the sake of your tradition, you make void the word of God.
15:7 You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said:
15:8 ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me;
15:9 in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.’”
15:10 Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand:
15:11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.”
15:12 Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?”
15:13 He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.
15:14 Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.”
15:15 But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.”
15:16 Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding?
15:17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?
15:18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles.
15:19 For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander.
15:20 These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”
15:21 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon.
15:22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.”
15:23 But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.”
15:24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
15:25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”
15:26 He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”
15:27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
15:28 Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
15:29 After Jesus had left that place, he passed along the Sea of Galilee, and he went up the mountain, where he sat down.
15:30 Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he cured them,
15:31 so that the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.
15:32 Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.”
15:33 The disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?”
15:34 Jesus asked them, “How many loaves have you?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.”
15:35 Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground,
15:36 he took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
15:37 And all of them ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.
15:38 Those who had eaten were four thousand men, besides women and children.
15:39 After sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.
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