Matthew 15:1-14

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,"^[a]

6 he need not honor his father.' So for the sake of your tradition you have ⁹made void the word^[b] 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.'"

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.^[c] And ¹⁹if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit."

Cross References 19

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.