NETfree - Matthew - 15

15:1  Then Pharisees and experts in the law came from Jerusalem to Jesus and said,

15:2  "Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don't wash their hands when they eat."

15:3  He answered them, "And why do you disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition?

15:4  For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.'

15:5  But you say, 'If someone tells his father or mother, "Whatever help you would have received from me is given to God,"

15:6  he does not need to honor his father.' You have nullified the word of God on account of your tradition.

15:7  Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said,

15:8  'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me,

15:9  and they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"

15:10  Then he called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand.

15:11  What defiles a person is not what goes into the mouth; it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person."

15:12  Then the disciples came to him and said, "Do you know that when the Pharisees heard this saying they were offended?"

15:13  And he replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted.

15:14  Leave them! They are blind guides. If someone who is blind leads another who is blind, both will fall into a pit."

15:15  But Peter said to him, "Explain this parable to us."

15:16  Jesus said, "Even after all this, are you still so foolish?

15:17  Don't you understand that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and then passes out into the sewer?

15:18  But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a person.

15:19  For out of the heart come evil ideas, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.

15:20  These are the things that defile a person; it is not eating with unwashed hands that defiles a person."

15:21  After going out from there, Jesus went to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

15:22  A Canaanite woman from that area came and cried out, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is horribly demon-possessed!"

15:23  But he did not answer her a word. Then his disciples came and begged him, "Send her away, because she keeps on crying out after us."

15:24  So he answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

15:25  But she came and bowed down before him and said, "Lord, help me!"

15:26  "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs," he said.

15:27  "Yes, Lord," she replied, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."

15:28  Then Jesus answered her, "Woman, your faith is great! Let what you want be done for you." And her daughter was healed from that hour.

15:29  When he left there, Jesus went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up a mountain, where he sat down.

15:30  Then large crowds came to him bringing with them the lame, blind, crippled, mute, and many others. They laid them at his feet, and he healed them.

15:31  As a result, the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they praised the God of Israel.

15:32  Then Jesus called the disciples and said, "I have compassion on the crowd, because they have already been here with me three days and they have nothing to eat. I don't want to send them away hungry since they may faint on the way."

15:33  The disciples said to him, "Where can we get enough bread in this desolate place to satisfy so great a crowd?"

15:34  Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?" They replied, "Seven - and a few small fish."

15:35  After instructing the crowd to sit down on the ground,

15:36  he took the seven loaves and the fish, and after giving thanks, he broke them and began giving them to the disciples, who then gave them to the crowds.

15:37  They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.

15:38  Not counting children and women, there were four thousand men who ate.

15:39  After sending away the crowd, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.