Chronological
Obey God’s Law Not Men’s
15 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem. They asked him, 2 “Why do your followers not obey the rules given to us by the great people who lived before us? Your followers don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
3 Jesus answered, “And why do you refuse to obey God’s command so that you can follow those rules you have? 4 God said, ‘Honor your father and mother.’[a] And God also said, ‘Anyone who says cruel things to his father or mother must be put to death.’[b] 5 But you say that a person can tell his father or mother, ‘I have something I could use to help you. But I will not use it for you. I will give it to God.’ 6 You teach that person not to honor his father. You teach that it is not important to do what God said. You think that it is more important to follow the rules you have. 7 You are hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he spoke about you:
8 ‘These people show honor to me with words.
But their hearts are far from me.
9 Their worship of me is worthless.
The things they teach are nothing
but human rules they have memorized.’” Isaiah 29:13
10 Jesus called the crowd to him. He said, “Listen and understand what I am saying. 11 It is not what a person puts into his mouth that makes him unclean. It is what comes out of his mouth that makes him unclean.”
12 Then his followers came to Jesus and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees are angry because of what you said?”
13 Jesus answered, “Every plant that my Father in heaven has not planted himself will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Stay away from the Pharisees. They are blind leaders.[c] And if a blind man leads another blind man, then both men will fall into a ditch.”
15 Peter said, “Explain the story to us.”
16 Jesus said, “You still have trouble understanding? 17 Surely you know that all the food that enters the mouth goes into the stomach. Then that food goes out of the body. 18 But what a person says with his mouth comes from the way he thinks. And these are the things that make him unclean. 19 Out of the mind come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, stealing, lying, and saying bad things against other people. 20 These things make a person unclean. But eating with unwashed hands does not make him unclean.”
Jesus Helps a Non-Jewish Woman
21 Jesus left that place and went to the area of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that area came to Jesus. The woman cried out, “Lord, Son of David, please help me! My daughter has a demon, and she is suffering very much.”
23 But Jesus did not answer the woman. So the followers came to Jesus and begged him, “Tell the woman to go away. She is following us and shouting.”
24 Jesus answered, “God sent me only to the lost sheep, the people of Israel.”
25 Then the woman came to Jesus again. She bowed before him and said, “Lord, help me!”
26 Jesus answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs.”
27 The woman said, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the pieces of food that fall from their masters’ table.”
28 Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! I will do what you asked me to do.” And at that moment the woman’s daughter was healed.
Jesus Heals Many People
29 Then Jesus left that place and went to the shore of Lake Galilee. He went up on a hill and sat there.
30 Great crowds came to Jesus. They brought their sick with them: the lame, the blind, the crippled, the dumb and many others. They put them at Jesus’ feet, and he healed them. 31 The crowd was amazed when they saw that people who could not speak were able to speak again. The crippled were made strong again. Those who could not walk were able to walk again. The blind were able to see again. And they praised the God of Israel for this.
More Than 4,000 People Fed
32 Jesus called his followers to him and said, “I feel sorry for these people. They have been with me three days, and now they have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry. They might faint while going home.”
33 His followers asked him, “Where can we get enough bread to feed all these people? We are far away from any town.”
34 Jesus asked, “How many loaves of bread do you have?”
They answered, “We have seven loaves and a few small fish.”
35 Jesus told the people to sit on the ground. 36 He took the seven loaves of bread and the fish and gave thanks to God for the food. Then Jesus divided the food and gave it to his followers. They gave the food to the people. 37 All the people ate and were satisfied. After this, the followers filled seven baskets with the pieces of food that were not eaten. 38 There were about 4,000 men there who ate, besides women and children. 39 After they ate, Jesus told the people to go home. He got into the boat and went to the area of Magadan.
Obey God’s Law Not Men’s
7 Some Pharisees and some teachers of the law came from Jerusalem. They gathered around Jesus. 2 They saw that some of Jesus’ followers ate food with hands that were not clean. (“Not clean” means that they did not wash their hands in the way the Pharisees said people must. 3 The Pharisees and all the Jews never eat before washing their hands in this special way. They do this to follow the teaching given to them by their great people who lived before them. 4 And when the Jews buy something in the market, they never eat it until they wash it in a special way. They also follow other rules of their great people who lived before them. They follow rules about the washing of cups, pitchers, and pots.[a])
5 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law said to Jesus, “Your followers don’t follow the rules given to us by our great people who lived before us. Your followers eat their food with hands that are not clean. Why do they do this?”
6 Jesus answered, “You are all hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he spoke about you. Isaiah wrote,
‘These people show honor to me with words.
But their hearts are far from me.
7 Their worship of me is worthless.
The things they teach are nothing
but human rules they have memorized.’ Isaiah 29:13
8 You have stopped following the commands of God. Now you only follow the teachings of men.”[b]
9 Then Jesus said to them: “You think you are clever! You ignore the commands of God so that you can follow your own teachings! 10 Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother.’[c] Then Moses also said, ‘Anyone who says cruel things to his father or mother must be put to death.’[d] 11 But you teach that a person can say to his father or mother, ‘I have something I could use to help you. But I will not use it for you. I will give it to God.’ 12 You are telling that person that he does not have to do anything for his father or mother. 13 So you are teaching that it is not important to do what God said. You think that it is more important to follow your own rules, which you teach people. And you do many things like that.”
14 Jesus called the people to him again. He said, “Every person should listen to me and understand what I am saying. 15 There is nothing a person puts into his body that makes him unclean. A person is made unclean by the things that come out of him. 16 [Let those with ears use them and listen!]”[e]
17 When Jesus left the people and went inside, his followers asked him about this story. 18 Jesus said, “Do you still have trouble understanding? Surely you know that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him unclean. 19 Food does not go into a person’s mind. Food goes into his stomach. Then that food goes out of his body.” (When Jesus said this, he meant that there is no food that is unclean for people to eat.)
20 And Jesus said, “The things that come out of a man are the things that make him unclean. 21 All these evil things begin inside a person, in the mind: evil thoughts, sexual immorality, stealing, murder, adultery, 22 selfishness, doing bad things to other people, lying, doing sinful things, jealousy, saying bad things about people, pride, and foolish living. 23 All these evil things come from within a person. These things make a person unclean.”
Jesus Helps a Non-Jewish Woman
24 Jesus left that place and went to the area around Tyre.[f] He went into a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. But Jesus could not stay hidden. 25 A woman heard that he was there. Her little daughter had an evil spirit in her. So the woman quickly came to Jesus and fell at his feet. 26 She was not Jewish. She was Greek, born in Phoenicia, in Syria. She begged Jesus to force the demon out of her daughter.
27 Jesus told the woman: “It is not right to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs. First let the children eat all they want.”
28 She answered, “That is true, Lord. But the dogs under the table can eat the pieces of food that the children don’t eat.”
29 Then Jesus said, “That is a very good answer. You may go. The demon has left your daughter.”
30 The woman went home and found her daughter lying in bed. The demon was gone.
Jesus Heals a Deaf Man
31 Then Jesus left the area around Tyre. He went through Sidon to Lake Galilee, to the area of the Ten Towns.[g] 32 While he was there, some people brought a man to him. This man was deaf and could not talk. The people begged Jesus to put his hand on the man to heal him.
33 Jesus led the man away from the crowd, to be alone with him. Jesus put his fingers in the man’s ears. Then Jesus spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34 Jesus looked up to heaven and took a deep breath. He said to the man, “Ephphatha!” (This means, “Be opened.”) 35 When Jesus did this, the man was able to hear. He was also able to use his tongue, and he spoke clearly.
36 Jesus commanded the people not to tell anyone about what happened. But the more he commanded them, the more they told about it. 37 They were really amazed. They said, “Jesus does everything well. He makes the deaf hear! And those who can’t talk—Jesus makes them able to speak.”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.