Matthew 15:8-25

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

9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’^[a] ”

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

11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”

12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”

13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.

14 Leave them; they are blind guides.^[b] If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

15 Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.”

16 “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them.

17 “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body?

18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them.

19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.

20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”

The Faith of a Canaanite Woman

21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”

23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”

24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.

Cross References

• 1. Colossians 2:20-22
• 2. Isaiah 29:13; Malachi 2:2
• 3. S Acts 10:14,15
• 4. ver 18
• 5. Isaiah 60:21; Isaiah 61:3; John 15:2
• 6. Matthew 23:16,24; Romans 2:19
• 7. Luke 6:39
• 8. Matthew 13:36
• 9. Matthew 16:9
• 10. Matthew 12:34; Luke 6:45; James 3:6
• 11. Galatians 5:19-21
• 12. Romans 14:14
• 13. S Matthew 11:21
• 14. S Matthew 9:27
• 15. S Matthew 4:24
• 16. Matthew 10:6,23; Romans 15:8
• 17. S Matthew 8:2

Footnotes

• [a]. Isaiah 29:13
• [b]. Some manuscripts "blind guides of the blind"