Matthew 15:17

17 "Don't you realize [a] that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated? [b]

Matthew 15:17 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 15:17

Do not ye understand
You must understand, you cannot be so ignorant,

that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth, goeth into the belly, and
is cast out into the draught?
that is, that whatsoever food a man takes in at his mouth, he swallows down, and it is received into his stomach; which, having performed its office, the grosser parts go down into the belly, and passing through the bowels, are evacuated into the vault, or privy, "purging all meats", as Mark says; for that only receives the filth and excrementitious matter; so that what is left in the body is pure, wholesome, and nourishing: nor can any part of what goes into a man defile him, because it only enters into the body, and passes through it; and, as Mark says, "entereth not into the heart", which is the seat of moral impurity; so that no moral pollution can be contracted by eating any sort of food, even though it should not be clean itself, nor be eaten with clean hands.

Matthew 15:17 In-Context

15 Then Peter replied to Him, "Explain this parable to us."
16 "Are even you still lacking in understanding?" He asked.
17 "Don't you realize that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated?
18 But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this defiles a man.
19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Other mss add yet
  • [b]. Lit and goes out into the toilet
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