Matthew 15

1Then 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 when they eat.”

3He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?

4For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.’

5But you say that if anyone tells his father or mother, ‘Whatever help you might have received from me is a gift devoted to God,’

6he does not have to honor his father. So you have made the word of God void for the sake of your tradition.

7You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said:

8‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

9They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commands of human beings.’”

10He called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand.

11It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth—that is what defiles a person.”

12Then the disciples came to him and said, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard what you said?”

13He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.

14Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind person guides a blind person, both will fall into a pit.”

15Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.”

16Jesus said, “Are you still without understanding too?

17Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and then is expelled into the latrine?

18But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and that is what defiles a person.

19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immorality, thefts, false testimony, and slander.

20These are what defile a person. But eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person.”

21Jesus left there and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

22Just then a Canaanite woman from that area came out and began crying out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely tormented by a demon.”

23But he did not answer her a word. So his disciples came and urged him, “Send her away, because she keeps crying out after us.”

24He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

25But she came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, help me!”

26He answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

27She said, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

28Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, your faith is great! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

29Jesus moved on from there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on the mountain and sat down there.

30Large crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others. They laid them at his feet, and he healed them,

31so that the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.

32Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the 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 collapse on the way.”

33The disciples said to him, “Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a large crowd?”

34Jesus asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.”

35He told the crowd to sit down on the ground,

36and 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.

37They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up seven baskets full of the broken pieces that were left over.

38Those who ate were four thousand men, not counting women and children.

39After sending the crowds away, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.