English Standard Version ESV
The Message Bible MSG
1 Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem,
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The Pharisees, along with some religion scholars who had come from Jerusalem, gathered around him.
2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed.
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They noticed that some of his disciples weren't being careful with ritual washings before meals.
3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands, holding to the tradition of the elders,
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The Pharisees - Jews in general, in fact - would never eat a meal without going through the motions of a ritual hand-washing,
4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.)
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with an especially vigorous scrubbing if they had just come from the market (to say nothing of the scourings they'd give jugs and pots and pans).
5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?"
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The Pharisees and religion scholars asked, "Why do your disciples flout the rules, showing up at meals without washing their hands?"
6 And he said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, "'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
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Jesus answered, "Isaiah was right about frauds like you, hit the bull's-eye in fact: These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their heart isn't in it.
7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'
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They act like they are worshiping me, but they don't mean it. They just use me as a cover for teaching whatever suits their fancy,
8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men."
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Ditching God's command and taking up the latest fads."
9 And he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!
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He went on, "Well, good for you. You get rid of God's command so you won't be inconvenienced in following the religious fashions!
10 For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.'
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Moses said, 'Respect your father and mother,' and, 'Anyone denouncing father or mother should be killed.'
11 But you say, 'If a man tells his father or his mother, "Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban"' (that is, given to God)--
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But you weasel out of that by saying that it's perfectly acceptable to say to father or mother, 'Gift! What I owed you I've given as a gift to God,'
12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother,
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thus relieving yourselves of obligation to father or mother.
13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do."
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You scratch out God's Word and scrawl a whim in its place. You do a lot of things like this."
14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, "Hear me, all of you, and understand:
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Jesus called the crowd together again and said, "Listen now, all of you - take this to heart.
15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him."
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It's not what you swallow that pollutes your life; it's what you vomit - that's the real pollution."
17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable.
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When he was back home after being with the crowd, his disciples said, "We don't get it. Put it in plain language."
18 And he said to them, "Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him,
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Jesus said, "Are you being willfully stupid? Don't you see that what you swallow can't contaminate you?
19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.)
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It doesn't enter your heart but your stomach, works its way through the intestines, and is finally flushed." (That took care of dietary quibbling; Jesus was saying that all foods are fit to eat.)
20 And he said, "What comes out of a person is what defiles him.
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He went on: "It's what comes out of a person that pollutes:
21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
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obscenities, lusts, thefts, murders, adulteries,
22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.
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greed, depravity, deceptive dealings, carousing, mean looks, slander, arrogance, foolishness -
23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."
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all these are vomit from the heart. There is the source of your pollution."
24 And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden.
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From there Jesus set out for the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house there where he didn't think he would be found, but he couldn't escape notice.
25 But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet.
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He was barely inside when a woman who had a disturbed daughter heard where he was. She came and knelt at his feet,
26 Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
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begging for help. The woman was Greek, Syro-Phoenician by birth. She asked him to cure her daughter.
27 And he said to her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."
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He said, "Stand in line and take your turn. The children get fed first. If there's any left over, the dogs get it."
28 But she answered him, "Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."
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She said, "Of course, Master. But don't dogs under the table get scraps dropped by the children?"
29 And he said to her, "For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter."
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Jesus was impressed. "You're right! On your way! Your daughter is no longer disturbed. The demonic affliction is gone."
30 And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.
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She went home and found her daughter relaxed on the bed, the torment gone for good.
31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis.
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Then he left the region of Tyre, went through Sidon back to Galilee Lake and over to the district of the Ten Towns.
32 And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him.
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Some people brought a man who could neither hear nor speak and asked Jesus to lay a healing hand on him.
33 And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue.
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He took the man off by himself, put his fingers in the man's ears and some spit on the man's tongue.
34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened."
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Then Jesus looked up in prayer, groaned mightily, and commanded, "Ephphatha! - Open up!"
35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.
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And it happened. The man's hearing was clear and his speech plain - just like that.
36 And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.
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Jesus urged them to keep it quiet, but they talked it up all the more,
37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."
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beside themselves with excitement. "He's done it all and done it well. He gives hearing to the deaf, speech to the speechless."
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.