## God's Commandments, Man's Traditions 

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And the Pharisees and some of the scribes *gathered around Him when they had come from Jerusalem, 

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and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with defiled hands, that is, unwashed. 

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(For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, _thus_ observing the tradition of the elders; 

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and _when they come_ from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots.) 

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And the Pharisees and the scribes *asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with defiled hands?" 

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And He said to them, **"Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:** **'This people honors Me with their lips**, **But their heart is far away from Me**. 

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But in vain do they worship Me, **Teaching as doctrines the commands of men**.' 

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Leaving the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men." 

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And He was also saying to them, **"You are good at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.** 

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For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who speaks evil of father or mother, is to be put to death'; 

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but you say, 'If a man says to _his_ father or _his_ mother, whatever you might benefit from me is Corban (that is to say, given _to God_),' 

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you no longer leave him to do anything for _his_ father or _his_ mother; 

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_thus_ invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that." 

## The Heart of Man 

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And after He called the crowd to Him again, He _began_ saying to them, **"Listen to Me, all of you, and understand:** 

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there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. 

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[**And if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."**] 

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And when He had left the crowd _and_ entered the house, His disciples were asking Him about the parable. 

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And He *said to them, **"Are you lacking understanding in this way as well? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him,** 

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because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and goes to the sewer?" (_Thus He_ declared all foods clean.) 

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And He was saying, **"That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man.** 

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For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, 

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coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, _and_ foolishness. 

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All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man." 

## A Gentile Woman's Faith 

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Now Jesus stood up and went away from there to the region of Tyre. And when He had entered a house, He was wanting no one to know _of it_; yet He could not escape notice. 

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But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. 

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Now the woman was a Greek, of Syrophoenician descent. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 

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And He was saying to her, **"Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."** 

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But she answered and *said to Him, "Yes, Lord, _but_ even the dogs under the table feed on the children's crumbs." 

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And He said to her, **"Because of this answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter."** 

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And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having left. 

## The Deaf Hear, the Mute Speak 

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And again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis. 

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And they *brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they *pleaded with Him to lay His hand on him. 

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And Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue; 

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and looking up to heaven with a sigh, He *said to him, **"Ephphatha!"** that is, **"Be opened!"** 

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And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he _began_ speaking plainly. 

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And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He was ordering them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it. 

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And they were utterly astonished, saying, "He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."