Tradition Over the Father's Word
7 1 The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, 2 and they saw that some of his disciples were eating their bread with defiled hands — that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands ceremonially, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions they have received and hold to — the washing of cups and pitchers and copper vessels.) 5 So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with defiled hands?"
6 He replied, "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written: 'These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." 7 'They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'
8 You abandon the commandment of our Father and hold to the tradition of men." 9 And he said to them, "You set aside the commandment of our Father quite nicely in order to keep your own tradition! 10 For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Whoever curses father or mother must be put to death.' 11 But you say that if anyone tells his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to our Father), a a v11 Corban was a vow dedicating money or property to the temple, putting it beyond use for any other purpose — even caring for one's own parents. 12 then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13 So you nullify the word of our Father by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like this."
14 Then he called the crowd to him again and said, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15 Nothing outside a person can defile him by going into him; rather, it is the things that come out of a person that defile him." 16 b b v16 This verse is not in the earliest manuscripts; later copies add: “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”
17 When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 He said to them, "Are you so dull as well? Do you not understand that nothing entering a person from outside can defile him, 19 since it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and then passes out into the sewer?" (In saying this, he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, "What comes out of a person — that is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the human heart, come evil thoughts — sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and folly. 23 All these evils come from within, and they defile a person."
A Gentile Woman's Persistent Faith
24 Then Jesus left that place and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and wanted no one to know he was there, but he couldn't stay hidden. 25 Instead, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him at once, and she came and fell at his feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, Syrophoenician by birth, and she kept asking him to drive the demon out of her daughter. 27 He said to her, "First let the children be fed, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."
28 But she replied to him, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."
29 Then he said to her, "Because of this answer, go your way; the demon has left your daughter." 30 And she went home and found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
Jesus Opens Deaf Ears
31 Then Jesus left the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the region of the Decapolis. c c v31 The Decapolis was a region of ten Greek cities east and south of the Sea of Galilee. 32 They brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly speak, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33 Jesus took him aside privately, away from the crowd, put his fingers into the man's ears, and after spitting, touched his tongue. 34 Then, looking up to heaven, he sighed deeply and said to him, "Ephphatha!" (that is, "Be opened!"). 35 And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he began to speak plainly. 36 Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more they proclaimed it. 37 They were utterly astonished and said, "He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."