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Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem. They asked him,
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"Why don't your followers obey the unwritten laws which have been handed down to us? They don't wash their hands before they eat."
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Jesus answered, "And why do you refuse to obey God's command so that you can follow your own teachings?
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God said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'Anyone who says cruel things to his father or mother must be put to death.'
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But you say a person can tell his father or mother, 'I have something I could use to help you, but I have given it to God already.'
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You teach that person not to honor his father or his mother. You rejected what God said for the sake of your own rules.
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You are hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he said about you:
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'These people show honor to me with words, but their hearts are far from me.
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Their worship of me is worthless. The things they teach are nothing but human rules.'"
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After Jesus called the crowd to him, he said, "Listen and understand what I am saying.
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It is not what people put into their mouths that makes them unclean. It is what comes out of their mouths that makes them unclean."