Matthew 15:1-20

New Catholic Bible

Chapter 15

Traditions That Falsify the Law of God. ¹ Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, ^2 [a]“Why do your disciples ignore the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands before eating.” ³ He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴ For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘Whoever curses his father or mother shall be put to death.’ ⁵ But you say, ‘If anyone says to his father or mother, “Anything I might have used for your support is dedicated to God,” ⁶ then he is excused from his duty to honor his father or mother.’ To uphold your tradition you have made God’s word null and void. ⁷ You hypocrites! How rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you when he said:

¹⁰ Clean and Unclean.^[b] Then he called the people to him and said to them, “Listen and understand. ¹¹ It is not what goes into one’s mouth that defiles a person; what comes out of the mouth is what defiles him.”

¹² The disciples approached and said to him, “Do you realize that the Pharisees were greatly offended when they heard what you said?” ¹³ He answered, “Every plant that my Father has not planted will be uprooted. ¹⁴ Leave them alone. They are blind guides. And if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a pit.”

¹⁵ Peter said to him, “Explain that parable to us.” ¹⁶ Jesus replied, “Are even you still without understanding? ¹⁷ Do you not realize that whatever goes into the mouth passes through the stomach and is discharged into the sewer? ¹⁸ But what comes out of the mouth originates in the heart, and this is what defiles a person. ¹⁹ For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, perjury, slander. ²⁰ These are the things that defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not make anyone unclean.”