Traditions and Commandments
1 1Then Pharisees and
2scribes came to Jesus
3from Jerusalem and said,
2
4“Why do your disciples break
5the tradition of the elders?
6For they do not wash their hands when they eat. ”
3
He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?
4
For God commanded,
7‘Honor your father and your mother, ’ and,
8‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die. ’
5
But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God, ”
6
he need not honor his father. ’So for the sake of your tradition you have
9made void the word of God.
7
10You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
8
11“‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
9
in vain do they worship me, teaching as
12doctrines the commandments of men. ’”
What Defiles a Person
10 And he called the people to him and said to them,
13“Hear and understand:
11
14it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person. ”
12
Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were
15offended when they heard this saying? ”
13
He answered,
16“Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted
17will be rooted up.
14
Let them alone;
18they are blind guides. And
19if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit. ”