6
they do not need to honor their father. In this way you disregard God's command, in order to follow your own teaching.
7
You hypocrites! How right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you!
8
"These people, says God, honor me with their words,
1 but their heart is really far away from me.
9
It is no use for them to worship me, because they teach human rules as though they were my laws!' "
10
Then Jesus called the crowd to him and said to them, "Listen and understand!
11
It is not what goes into your mouth that makes you ritually unclean; rather, what comes out of it makes you unclean."
12
Then the disciples came to him and said, "Do you know that the Pharisees had their feelings hurt by what you said?"
13
"Every plant which my Father in heaven did not plant will be pulled up," answered Jesus.
14
"Don't worry about them! They are blind leaders of the blind; and when one blind man leads another, both fall into a ditch."
2
15
Peter spoke up, "Explain this saying to us."
16
Jesus said to them, "You are still no more intelligent than the others.
17
Don't you understand? Anything that goes into your mouth goes into your stomach and then on out of your body.
18
But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these are the things that make you ritually unclean.
3
19
For from your heart come the evil ideas which lead you to kill, commit adultery, and do other immoral things; to rob, lie, and slander others.
20
These are the things that make you unclean. But to eat without washing your hands as they say you should - this doesn't make you unclean."
21
Jesus left that place and went off to the territory near the cities of Tyre and Sidon.
22
A Canaanite woman who lived in that region came to him. "Son of David!" she cried out. "Have mercy on me, sir! My daughter has a demon and is in a terrible condition."
23
But Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples came to him and begged him, "Send her away! She is following us and making all this noise!"
24
Then Jesus replied, "I have been sent only to the lost sheep of the people of Israel."
25
At this the woman came and fell at his feet. "Help me, sir!" she said.
26
Jesus answered, "It isn't right to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs."