15:1 Then Pharisees 1 and experts in the law 2 came from Jerusalem 3 to Jesus and said, 4 15:2 “Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their 5 hands when they eat.” 6 15:3 He answered them, 7 “And why do you disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition? 15:4 For God said, 8 ‘Honor your father and mother’ 9 and ‘Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.’ 10 15:5 But you say, ‘If someone tells his father or mother, “Whatever help you would have received from me is given to God,” 11 15:6 he does not need to honor his father.’ 12 You have nullified the word of God on account of your tradition. 15:7 Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said,
15:8 ‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart 13 is far from me,
15:9 and they worship me in vain,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” 14
15:10 Then he called the crowd to him and said, 15 “Listen and understand. 15:11 What defiles a person is not what goes into the mouth; it is what 16 comes out of the mouth that defiles a person.” 15:12 Then the disciples came to him and said, “Do you know that when the Pharisees 17 heard this saying they were offended?” 15:13 And he replied, 18 “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted. 15:14 Leave them! They are blind guides. 19 If someone who is blind leads another who is blind, 20 both will fall into a pit.” 15:15 But Peter 21 said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” 15:16 Jesus 22 said, “Even after all this, are you still so foolish? 15:17 Don’t you understand that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and then passes out into the sewer? 23 15:18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a person. 15:19 For out of the heart come evil ideas, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 15:20 These are the things that defile a person; it is not eating with unwashed hands that defiles a person.” 24
15:21 After going out from there, Jesus went to the region of Tyre 25 and Sidon. 26 15:22 A 27 Canaanite woman from that area came 28 and cried out, 29 “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is horribly demon-possessed!” 15:23 But he did not answer her a word. Then 30 his disciples came and begged him, 31 “Send her away, because she keeps on crying out after us.” 15:24 So 32 he answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 15:25 But she came and bowed down 33 before him and said, 34 “Lord, help me!” 15:26 “It is not right 35 to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs,” 36 he said. 37 15:27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, 38 “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 15:28 Then 39 Jesus answered her, “Woman, 40 your faith is great! Let what you want be done for you.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.