Matthew 15

¹Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said ,

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

³He answered them , And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition ?

⁴For God commanded , Honor your father and your mother , and , Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die .

⁵But you say , If anyone tells his father or his mother , What you would have gained from me is given to God,

⁶he need not honor his father . So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God .

⁷You hypocrites ! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you , when he said :

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

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

¹⁰And he called the people to him and said to them , Hear and understand :

¹¹it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person , but what comes out of the mouth ; this defiles a person .

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

¹³He answered , Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up .

¹⁴Let them alone ; they are blind guides . And if the blind lead the blind , both will fall into a pit .

¹⁵But Peter said to him , Explain the parable to us .

¹⁶And he said , Are you also still without understanding ?

¹⁷Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled ?

¹⁸But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart , and this defiles a person .

¹⁹For out of the heart come evil thoughts , murder , adultery , sexual immorality , theft , false witness , slander .

²⁰These are what defile a person . But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone .

²¹And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon .

²²And behold , a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying , Have mercy on me , O Lord , Son of David ; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon .

²³But he did not answer her a word . And his disciples came and begged him , saying , Send her away , for she is crying out after us .

²⁴He 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 .

²⁶And he answered , It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs .

²⁷She said , Yes , Lord , yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters ’ table .

²⁸Then Jesus answered her , O woman , great is your faith ! Be it done for you as you desire . And her daughter was healed instantly .

²⁹Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee . And he went up on the mountain and sat down there .

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

³¹so that the crowd wondered , when they saw the mute speaking , the crippled healthy , 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 been with me now three days and have nothing to eat . And I am unwilling to send them away hungry , lest they faint on the way .

³³And the disciples said to him , Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd ?

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

³⁵And directing the crowd to sit down on the ground ,

³⁶he took the seven loaves and the fish , and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples , and the disciples gave them to the crowds .

³⁷And they all ate and were satisfied . And they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over.

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

³⁹And after sending away the crowds , he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan .