Matthew 15

1Then Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem come to Jesus, saying,

2Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.

3But he answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?”

4For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.’

5But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have benefited from me is a gift to God,”’

6he certainly need not honor his father. And you have nullified the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

7Hypocrites, Isaiah rightly prophesied about you, saying:

8This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

9But they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

10And calling the crowd to him, he said to them, “Listen and understand.”

11It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what comes out of the mouth—this defiles the man.

12Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”

13But he answered and said, “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted.”

14Leave them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. But if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.

15But Peter answered and said to him, “Explain this parable to us.”

16But he said, “Are you also still without understanding?”

17Do you not understand that everything entering into the mouth goes into the stomach and is expelled into the latrine?

18But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.

19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, and blasphemies.

20These are the things that defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.

21And Jesus went out from there and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

22And behold, a Canaanite woman from those regions came out and was crying out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely demon-possessed.”

23But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and kept asking him, saying, “Send her away, because she is crying out behind us.”

24But he answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

25But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”

26But he answered, “It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs.”

27She said, “Yes, Lord, for even the little dogs eat from the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

28Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith; let it be done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.

29And departing from there, Jesus came along the Sea of Galilee, and after going up on the mountain, he sat there.

30And large crowds came to him, bringing with them the mute, the blind, the lame, the crippled, and many others, and they laid them at his feet, and he healed them.

31so that the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.

32Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have already remained with me for three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they collapse on the way.”

33And the disciples said to him, “Where could we get enough bread in this desolate place to satisfy so large a crowd?”

34And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few small fish.”

35And after instructing the crowd to recline on the ground,

36He took the seven loaves and the fish, and after giving thanks he broke them and kept giving them to the disciples, and the disciples to the crowds.

37And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up seven full baskets of the leftover pieces.

38Those who had eaten were four thousand men, besides women and children.

39And after dismissing the crowds, he got into the boat and came to the region of Magadan.