15 Then some P’rushim and Torah-teachers from Yerushalayim came to Yeshua and asked him, ² “Why is it that your talmidim break the Tradition of the Elders? They don’t do n’tilat-yadayim before they eat!” ³ He answered, “Indeed, why do you break the command of God by your tradition? ⁴ For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’^[a] and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’^{[b] 5} But you say, ‘If anyone says to his father or mother, “I have promised to give to God what I might have used to help you,” ⁶ then he is rid of his duty to honor his father or mother.’ Thus by your tradition you make null and void the word of God! ⁷ You hypocrites! Yesha‘yahu was right when he prophesied about you,

¹⁰ Then he called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand this! ¹¹ What makes a person unclean is not what goes into his mouth; rather, what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him unclean!”

¹² The talmidim came to him and said, “Do you know that the P’rushim were offended by what you said?” ¹³ He replied, “Every plant that my Father in heaven has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. ¹⁴ Let them be. They are blind guides. When a blind man guides another blind man, both will fall in a pit.”

¹⁵ Kefa said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” ¹⁶ So he said, “Don’t you understand even now? ¹⁷ Don’t you see that anything that enters the mouth goes into the stomach and passes out into the latrine? ¹⁸ But what comes out of your mouth is actually coming from your heart, and that is what makes a person unclean. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come forth wicked thoughts, murder, adultery and other kinds of sexual immorality, theft, lies, slanders. . . . ²⁰ These are what really make a person unclean, but eating without doing n’tilat-yadayim does not make a person unclean.”

7 The P’rushim and some of the Torah-teachers who had come from Yerushalayim gathered together with Yeshua ² and saw that some of his talmidim ate with ritually unclean hands, that is, without doing n’tilat-yadayim. ³ (For the P’rushim, and indeed all the Judeans, holding fast to the Tradition of the Elders, do not eat unless they have given their hands a ceremonial washing. ⁴ Also, when they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they have rinsed their hands up to the wrist; and they adhere to many other traditions, such as washing cups, pots and bronze vessels.)

⁵ The P’rushim and the Torah-teachers asked him, “Why don’t your talmidim live in accordance with the Tradition of the Elders, but instead eat with ritually unclean hands?” ⁶ Yeshua answered them, “Yesha‘yahu was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites — as it is written,

⁸ “You depart from God’s command and hold onto human tradition. ⁹ Indeed,” he said to them, “you have made a fine art of departing from God’s command in order to keep your tradition! ¹⁰ For Moshe said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’^[b] and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’^{[c] 11} But you say, ‘If someone says to his father or mother, “I have promised as a korban” ’ ” (that is, as a gift to God) “ ‘ “what I might have used to help you,” ’ ¹² then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. ¹³ Thus, with your tradition which you had handed down to you, you nullify the Word of God! And you do other things like this.”

¹⁴ Then Yeshua called the people to him again and said, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand this! ¹⁵ There is nothing outside a person which, by going into him, can make him unclean. Rather, it is the things that come out of a person which make a person unclean!” ^16 [d]

¹⁷ When he had left the people and entered the house, his talmidim asked him about the parable. ¹⁸ He replied to them, “So you too are without understanding? Don’t you see that nothing going into a person from outside can make him unclean? ¹⁹ For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and it passes out into the latrine.” (Thus he declared all foods ritually clean.) ²⁰ “It is what comes out of a person,” he went on, “that makes him unclean. ²¹ For from within, out of a person’s heart, come forth wicked thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, ²² greed, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, arrogance, foolishness…. ²³ All these wicked things come from within, and they make a person unclean.”