1 Then Jesus was approached by Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem, who asked,
2 âWhy do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they donât wash their hands when they eat.â
3 He answered them, âWhy do you break Godâs commandment because of your tradition?
4 For God said: Honor your father and your mother; and, Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.
5 But you say, âWhoever tells his father or mother, âWhatever benefit you might have received from me is a gift committed to the temple,â
6 he does not have to honor his father.â In this way, you have nullified the word of God because of your tradition.
7 Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said:
8 This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
9 They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines human commands. â
10 Summoning the crowd, he told them, âListen and understand:
11 Itâs not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouthâthis defiles a person.â
12 Then the disciples came up and told him, âDo you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said? â
13 He replied, âEvery plant that my heavenly Father didnât plant will be uprooted.
14 Leave them alone! They are blind guides. And if the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.â
15 Then Peter said, âExplain this parable to us.â
16 âDo you still lack understanding? â he asked.
17 âDonât you realize that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated?
18 But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this defiles a person.
19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, slander.
20 These are the things that defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person.â
21 When Jesus left there, he withdrew to the area of Tyre and Sidon.
22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out, âHave mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely tormented by a demon.â
23 Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples approached him and urged him, âSend her away because sheâs crying out after us.â
24 He replied, âI was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.â
25 But she came, knelt before him, and said, âLord, help me! â
26 He answered, âIt isnât right to take the childrenâs bread and throw it to the dogs.â
27 âYes, Lord,â she said, âyet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their mastersâ table.â
28 Then Jesus replied to her, âWoman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want.â And from that moment her daughter was healed.
29 Moving on from there, Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee. He went up on a mountain and sat there,
30 and large crowds came to him, including the lame, the blind, the crippled, those unable to speak, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he healed them.
31 So the crowd was amazed when they saw those unable to speak talking, the crippled restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they gave glory to the God of Israel.
32 Jesus called his disciples and said, âI have compassion on the crowd, because theyâve already stayed with me three days and have nothing to eat. I donât want to send them away hungry, otherwise they might collapse on the way.â
33 The disciples said to him, âWhere could we get enough bread in this desolate place to feed such a crowd? â
34 âHow many loaves do you have? â Jesus asked them. âSeven,â they said, âand a few small fish.â
35 After commanding the crowd to sit down on the ground,
36 he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
37 They all ate and were satisfied. They collected the leftover piecesâseven large baskets full.
38 Now there were four thousand men who had eaten, besides women and children.
39 After dismissing the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.