Chapter 15

1Then Pharisees and teachers of Jewish law came from Jerusalem to Jesus and said,

2“Why do your disciples break the religious tradition handed down by earlier leaders? They do not ritually wash their hands before eating.”

3Jesus answered them, “Why do you break God’s command for the sake of your tradition?

4Jesus continued, “God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother must be put to death.’

5But you teach that a person may tell their father or mother, ‘Any help you would have received from me is now an offering to God.’

6That person then fails to honor their father. In this way, you have canceled what God said for the sake of your tradition.

7You hypocrites! Isaiah spoke accurately about you when he delivered this message from God:

8‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

9Their worship of me is empty because they present human rules as teachings from me.’”

10Then Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand:

11What enters the mouth does not make a person impure before God. What comes out of the mouth is what makes a person impure.”

12Then the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard what you said?”

13Jesus answered, “Every plant that my Father in heaven did not plant will be pulled up by the roots.

14Leave them alone. They are blind guides leading blind people. If one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.”

15Peter said to Jesus, “Explain that illustration to us.”

16Jesus replied, “Do you still not understand?

17Do you not realize that everything entering the mouth goes into the stomach and eventually leaves the body in the toilet?

18But the words that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and those words make a person impure before God.

19Evil thoughts come from the heart, along with murder, adultery, sexual wrongdoing, theft, false testimony, and slander.

20These are the things that make a person impure. Eating without the ritual handwashing does not make a person impure.”

21Jesus left that place and went to the region around the coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon.

22A local Canaanite woman, who was not Jewish, came out and cried, “Have mercy on me, Lord, descendant of King David! A demon is tormenting my daughter terribly.”

23But Jesus did not answer her at all. His disciples came and kept urging him, “Send her away, because she keeps crying out behind us.”

24Jesus replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep who belong to the people of Israel.”

25But the woman came, bowed down before him, and said, “Lord, help me!”

26Jesus answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”

27She replied, “Yes, Lord—but even the little dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

28Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, your trust is extraordinary! May what you want happen for you.” Her daughter was healed at that very moment.

29Jesus moved on from there and came to the Sea of Galilee. He went up the mountain and sat down.

30Large crowds came to him, bringing people who could not speak, people who were blind, people unable to walk, people with disabled limbs, and many others. They laid them at his feet, and he healed them.

31The crowd was amazed to see people who had been unable to speak now speaking, those with disabled limbs now healthy, people who had been unable to walk now walking, and blind people now seeing. They praised the God of Israel.

32Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I feel compassion for the crowd. They have already stayed with me for three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry because they may collapse on the way.”

33The disciples asked him, “Where could we get enough bread in this deserted place to feed such a large crowd?”

34Jesus asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They answered, “Seven, and a few small fish.”

35Jesus told the crowd to sit down on the ground.

36Then he took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks. He broke the loaves and kept giving the food to the disciples, who passed it to the crowds.

37Everyone ate and had enough. Afterward, the disciples collected seven large baskets full of the broken pieces left over.

38Four thousand men ate, besides the women and children.

39After sending the crowds away, Jesus got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.