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Then there came to Jesus a party of Pharisees and Scribes from Jerusalem, who inquired,
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"Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the Elders by not washing their hands before meals?"
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"Why do you, too," He retorted, "transgress God's commands for the sake of your tradition?
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For God said, `Honour thy father and thy mother'; and `Let him who reviles father or mother be certainly put to death';
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but you--this is what you say: `If a man says to his father or mother, That is consecrated, whatever it is, which otherwise you should have received from me--
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he shall be absolved from honouring his father'; and so you have abrogated God's Word for the sake of your tradition.
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Hypocrites! well did Isaiah prophesy of you,
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"`This is a People who honour Me with their lips, while their heart is far away from Me;
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but it is in vain they worship Me, while they lay down precepts which are mere human rules.'"
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Then, when He had called the people to Him, Jesus said, "Hear and understand.
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It is not what goes into a man's mouth that defiles him; but it is what comes out of his mouth--*that* defiles a man."