Matthew 15:1-20

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

The Tradition of the Elders

15 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, ² “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat.”^{(A) 3} He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴ For God said,^[a] ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.’^{(B) 5} But you say that whoever tells father or mother, ‘Whatever support you might have had from me is given to God,’^[b] then that person need not honor the father.^{[c](C) 6} So, for the sake of your tradition, you nullify the word^[d] of God. ⁷ You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said:

Things That Defile

¹⁰ Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: ¹¹ it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.”^{(F) 12} Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” ¹³ He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.^{(G) 14} Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind.^[e] And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.”^{(H) 15} But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.”^{(I) 16} Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding?^{(J) 17} Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and goes out into the sewer? ¹⁸ But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles.^{(K) 19} For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.^{(L) 20} These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”