Matthew 15

Then Pharisees and experts in the law from Jerusalem come to Jesus, saying,

“Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”

And he answered and said to them, “Why do even you yourselves transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?

For God said, Honor your father and your mother, and, Whoever speaks evil of his father or mother, let him be put to death.

But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or his mother, “Whatever benefit you might have gained from me is a gift given to God;”’

and he does not honor his father. And thus you have set aside the word of God because of your tradition.

You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying,

Moreover, they worship me in vain, teaching as their doctrines the commandments of men.”

And he called the crowd to himself and said to them, “Hear and understand:

it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles the person, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles the person.”

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

But he answered and said, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up.

Leave them alone! They are blind guides. And if the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

And Peter answered and said to him, “Explain the parable to us.”

And he said, “Do you also still not understand?

Do you not understand that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled into the sewer?

But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile the person.

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immorality, thefts, false witness, insults.

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

And Jesus went away from there and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon.

And Look! A Canaanite woman came out from that area and began crying out, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David, my daughter is cruelly afflicted by a demon.”

But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and kept asking him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps on crying out as she follows us.”

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

But she came and bowed down before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”

And he answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the pet dogs.”

But she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their lords’ table.”

Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your trust. Let it be done for you as you want.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.

And Jesus departed from there and came close to the Sea of Galilee, and he went up onto the mountain and sat there.

And great multitudes came to him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others, and they laid them down at his feet and he healed them.

As a result, the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they glorified the God of Israel.

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

And the disciples said to him, “Where could we get so many loaves in such a remote place that we could satisfy so great a crowd?”

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

And he commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground,

and he took the seven loaves and the fish and, after he gave thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowd.

And they all ate and were filled, and they collected what was left over of the broken pieces, seven baskets full.

And those who ate were 4,000 men, besides women and children.

And after sending away the crowd, he got into the boat and came into the area of Magadan.