MATTHEW Chapter 15 (GNB)

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15:1   Then some Pharisees and teachers of the Law came from Jerusalem to Jesus and asked him,

15:2   "Why is it that your disciples disobey the teaching handed down by our ancestors? They don't wash their hands in the proper way before they eat!"

15:3   Jesus answered, "And why do you disobey God's command and follow your own teaching?

15:4   For God said, 'Respect your father and your mother,' and 'If you curse your father or your mother, you are to be put to death.'

15:5   But you teach that if people have something they could use to help their father or mother, but say, 'This belongs to God,'

15:6   they do not need to honor their father. In this way you disregard God's command, in order to follow your own teaching.

15:7   You hypocrites! How right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you!

15:8   'These people, says God, honor me with their words, but their heart is really far away from me.

15:9   It is no use for them to worship me, because they teach human rules as though they were my laws!' "

15:10   Then Jesus called the crowd to him and said to them, "Listen and understand!

15:11   It is not what goes into your mouth that makes you ritually unclean; rather, what comes out of it makes you unclean."

15:12   Then the disciples came to him and said, "Do you know that the Pharisees had their feelings hurt by what you said?"

15:13   "Every plant which my Father in heaven did not plant will be pulled up," answered Jesus.

15:14   "Don't worry about them! They are blind leaders of the blind; and when one blind man leads another, both fall into a ditch."

15:15   Peter spoke up, "Explain this saying to us."

15:16   Jesus said to them, "You are still no more intelligent than the others.

15:17   Don't you understand? Anything that goes into your mouth goes into your stomach and then on out of your body.

15:18   But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these are the things that make you ritually unclean.

15:19   For from your heart come the evil ideas which lead you to kill, commit adultery, and do other immoral things; to rob, lie, and slander others.

15:20   These are the things that make you unclean. But to eat without washing your hands as they say you should---this doesn't make you unclean."

15:21   Jesus left that place and went off to the territory near the cities of Tyre and Sidon.

15:22   A Canaanite woman who lived in that region came to him. "Son of David!" she cried out. "Have mercy on me, sir! My daughter has a demon and is in a terrible condition."

15:23   But Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples came to him and begged him, "Send her away! She is following us and making all this noise!"

15:24   Then Jesus replied, "I have been sent only to the lost sheep of the people of Israel."

15:25   At this the woman came and fell at his feet. "Help me, sir!" she said.

15:26   Jesus answered, "It isn't right to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs."

15:27   "That's true, sir," she answered, "but even the dogs eat the leftovers that fall from their masters' table."

15:28   So Jesus answered her, "You are a woman of great faith! What you want will be done for you." And at that very moment her daughter was healed.

15:29   Jesus left there and went along by Lake Galilee. He climbed a hill and sat down.

15:30   Large crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the dumb, and many other sick people, whom they placed at Jesus' feet; and he healed them.

15:31   The people were amazed as they saw the dumb speaking, the crippled made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they praised the God of Israel.

15:32   Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I feel sorry for these people, because they have been with me for three days and now have nothing to eat. I don't want to send them away without feeding them, for they might faint on their way home."

15:33   The disciples asked him, "Where will we find enough food in this desert to feed this crowd?"

15:34   "How much bread do you have?" Jesus asked. "Seven loaves," they answered, "and a few small fish."

15:35   So Jesus ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground.

15:36   Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks to God, broke them, and gave them to the disciples; and the disciples gave them to the people.

15:37   They all ate and had enough. Then the disciples took up seven baskets full of pieces left over.

15:38   The number of men who ate was four thousand, not counting the women and children.

15:39   Then Jesus sent the people away, got into a boat, and went to the territory of Magadan.

CHAPTER ENDS