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Pharisees and some others scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, 2 and they saw some of His disciples eating their food with “unclean” hands, that is, without washing their hands. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands ritually, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they have washed. And there are many other traditions which they have received and observe, like the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.)
5 So the Pharisees and the scribes asked Jesus, “Why do Your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their food with ‘unclean’ hands?”
6 He replied, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites; as it is written:
‘These people honour Me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from Me.
7 They worship Me in vain,
teaching as doctrines the precepts of men’.
8 You disregard the commandments of God, and hold fast to the traditions of men.”
9 And He said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting God’s commands in order to maintain your own traditions! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honour your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever curses his father or mother must be put to death’.
11 “But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother: “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban” ’ ” (that is, a gift devoted to God), 12 “then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother. 13 Thus you nullify the word of God through your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many similar things.”
14 Then Jesus called the crowd to Him again, and He said to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand this: 15 There is nothing outside a man that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a man are what defile him. 16 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!”
17 When He went away from the crowd and had entered a house, His disciples asked Him about this parable. 18 And He said to them, “Are you lacking in understanding also? Don’t you see that nothing going into a man from the outside can defile him? 19 For it doesn’t enter into his heart but his stomach, and so is eliminated.”
20 Then He said, “What comes out of a man is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of a man comes evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man.”
24 Jesus left that place and went from there to the region of Tyre and Sidon. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet He could not escape notice. 25 But a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit soon heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, a Syrian-Phoenician by birth, and she begged Jesus to cast the demon out of her daughter.
27 But Jesus said to her, “First allow the children to eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
28 But she answered Him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
29 Then He told her, “For such a reply, you may go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter.”
30 So she went home, and she found her child lying on the bed, and the demon was gone.
31 Then Jesus left the region of Tyre, and He passed through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. 32 Some people brought a man to Him there who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Jesus to lay His hand on him.
33 So Jesus took the man aside away from the crowd. He put His fingers in the man’s ears, and He spat and touched his tongue. 34 Then looking up to heaven, He sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”). 35 Immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak plainly.
36 Then Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone, but the more He did so, the more they proclaimed it. 37 People were astonished beyond measure and said, “He has done all things well! He even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”