What Defiles a Person

¹⁴ And he called the people to him again and said to them, ^(A)“Hear me, all of you, and understand: ^15 (B)There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”^{[a] 17} And when he had entered ^(C)the house and left the people, ^(D)his disciples asked him about the parable. ¹⁸ And he said to them, “Then ^(E)are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ since it enters not his heart ^(F)but his stomach, and is expelled?”^[b] (^(G)Thus he declared all foods clean.) ²⁰ And he said, ^(H)“What comes out of a person is what defiles him. ²¹ For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, ^(I)murder, adultery, ²² coveting, wickedness, deceit, ^(J)sensuality, ^(K)envy, ^(L)slander, ^(M)pride, ^(N)foolishness. ^23 (O)All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”