Matthew 15:1-20

New International Version - UK

That which defiles

15 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, ² ‘Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!’

³ Jesus replied, ‘And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴ For God said, “Honour your father and mother”^[a] and “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.”^{[b] 5} But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is “devoted to God,” ⁶ they are not to “honour their father or mother” with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. ⁷ You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:

¹⁰ Jesus called the crowd to him and said, ‘Listen and understand. ¹¹ What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.’

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

¹³ He replied, ‘Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. ¹⁴ Leave them; they are blind guides.^[d] If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.’

¹⁵ Peter said, ‘Explain the parable to us.’

¹⁶ ‘Are you still so dull?’ Jesus asked them. ¹⁷ ‘Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? ¹⁸ But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts – murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. ²⁰ These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.’