Traditions and Commandments

15 ^(A)Then Pharisees and ^(B)scribes came to Jesus ^(C)from Jerusalem and said, ^2 (D)“Why do your disciples break ^(E)the tradition of the elders? ^(F)For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” ³ He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴ For God commanded, ^(G)‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ^(H)‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ ⁵ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,”^{[a] 6} he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have ^(I)made void the word^[b] of God. ^7 (J)You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

What Defiles a Person

¹⁰ And he called the people to him and said to them, ^(M)“Hear and understand: ^11 (N)it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” ¹² Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were ^(O)offended when they heard this saying?” ¹³ He answered, ^(P)“Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted ^(Q)will be rooted up. ¹⁴ Let them alone; ^(R)they are blind guides.^[c] And ^(S)if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” ¹⁵ But Peter said to him, ^(T)“Explain the parable to us.” ¹⁶ And he said, ^(U)“Are you also still without understanding? ¹⁷ Do you not see that ^(V)whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled?^{[d] 18} But ^(W)what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come ^(X)evil thoughts, ^(Y)murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, ^(Z)slander. ^20 (AA)These are what defile a person. But ^(AB)to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

The Faith of a Canaanite Woman

^21 (AC)And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. ²² And behold, ^(AD)a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, ^(AE)“Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” ²³ But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, ^(AF)“Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” ²⁴ He answered, ^(AG)“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵ But she came and ^(AH)knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” ²⁶ And he answered, “It is not right to take the children's bread and ^(AI)throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷ She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat ^(AJ)the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.” ²⁸ Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, ^(AK)great is your faith! ^(AL)Be it done for you as you desire.” ^(AM)And her daughter was ^(AN)healed instantly.^[e]

Jesus Heals Many

^29 (AO)Jesus went on from there and walked ^(AP)beside the Sea of Galilee. And he ^(AQ)went up on the mountain and sat down there. ³⁰ And great crowds came to him, bringing with them ^(AR)the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, ^31 (AS)so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, ^(AT)the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And ^(AU)they glorified ^(AV)the God of Israel.

Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand

^32 (AW)Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, ^(AX)“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.” ³³ And the disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd?” ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, ^(AY)“Seven, and a few small fish.” ³⁵ And directing the crowd to sit down on the ground, ³⁶ he took the seven loaves and the fish, and ^(AZ)having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ³⁷ And ^(BA)they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over. ³⁸ Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. ³⁹ And after sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of ^(BB)Magadan.

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

2 And when he returned to ^(A)Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. ² And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. ^3 (B)And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. ⁴ And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, ^(C)they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. ⁵ And when Jesus ^(D)saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, ^(E)your sins are forgiven.” ⁶ Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, ⁷ “Why does this man speak like that? ^(F)He is blaspheming! ^(G)Who can forgive sins but God alone?” ⁸ And immediately Jesus, ^(H)perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? ⁹ Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? ¹⁰ But that you may know that ^(I)the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— ¹¹ “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” ¹² And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and ^(J)glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

Jesus Calls Levi

¹³ He went out again beside the sea, and ^(K)all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. ^14 (L)And as he passed by, he saw ^(M)Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

¹⁵ And as he reclined at table in his house, many ^(N)tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶ And ^(O)the scribes of^[a] the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, ^(P)“Why does he eat^[b] with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹⁷ And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ^(Q)I came not to call the righteous, ^(R)but sinners.”

A Question About Fasting

¹⁸ Now ^(S)John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, ^(T)“Why do John's disciples and ^(U)the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁹ And Jesus said to them, ^(V)“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ^20 (W)The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and ^(X)then they will fast in that day. ²¹ No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. ²² And no one puts new wine into old ^(Y)wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”^[c]

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

^23 (Z)One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples ^(AA)began to pluck heads of grain. ²⁴ And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, ^(AB)why are they doing ^(AC)what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ²⁵ And he said to them, ^(AD)“Have you never read ^(AE)what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: ²⁶ how he entered the house of God, in the time of^{[d] (AF)}Abiathar the high priest, and ate ^(AG)the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” ²⁷ And he said to them, ^(AH)“The Sabbath was made for man, ^(AI)not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸ So ^(AJ)the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”