Matthew 15:10-20

What Defiles a Person

10 And he called the people to him and said to them, ¹“Hear and understand:

11 ²it 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 ³offended when they heard this saying? ”

13 He answered, ⁴“Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted ⁵will be rooted up.

14 Let them alone; ⁶they are blind guides. ^[a] And ⁷if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit. ”

15 But Peter said to him, ⁸“Explain the parable to us. ”

16 And he said, ⁹“Are you also still without understanding?

17 Do you not see that ¹⁰whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? ^[b]

18 But ¹¹what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.

19 For out of the heart come ¹²evil thoughts, ¹³murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, ¹⁴slander.

20 ¹⁵These are what defile a person. But ¹⁶to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone. ”

Cross References

• 1. 15:10 ch. 13:51
• 2. 15:11 See Acts 10:14, 15
• 3. 15:12 [ch. 13:57; Luke 7:23]
• 4. 15:13 [Isa. 60:21; 61:3; John 15:1, 2; 1 Cor. 3:9]
• 5. 15:13 Jude 12
• 6. 15:14 ch. 23:16, 24; [Isa. 56:10; Mal. 2:8]
• 7. 15:14 Luke 6:39
• 8. 15:15 [ch. 13:36]
• 9. 15:16 ch. 16:9
• 10. 15:17 [1 Cor. 6:13]
• 11. 15:18 ch. 12:34; James 3:6
• 12. 15:19 James 2:4
• 13. 15:19 ch. 5:22, 28; See Ex. 20:13-16
• 14. 15:19 Eph. 4:31; Col. 3:8; 1 Tim. 6:4
• 15. 15:20 1 Cor. 6:9, 10
• 16. 15:20 Mark 7:2, 5

Footnotes

• [a] 15:14 Some manuscripts add 'of the blind'
• [b] 15:17 Greek 'is expelled into the latrine'