Matthew 15
1 Then the scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem come up to Jesus, saying,
Then [some] Pharisees and men who taught the [Jewish] laws came from Jerusalem [to talk to] Jesus. They said,
2 Why do thy disciples transgress what has been delivered by the ancients? for they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.
“(We think it is disgusting that your disciples disobey the traditions of our ancestors!/Why do your disciples disobey [what our ancestors wrote down and] our [elders taught us]?) [RHQ] They do not perform the proper ritual of washing their hands before they eat!”
3 But he answering said to them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God on account of your traditional teaching?
Jesus answered them, “(What is really disgusting is that you refuse to obey God’s commands [just] so that you can follow what your ancestors taught you!/Why do you refuse to obey what God commanded [people to do, just] so that you can follow your own traditions?) [RHQ]
4 For God commanded saying, Honour father and mother; and, He that speaks ill of father or mother, let him die the death.
God gave these [two] commands: ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘People who speak evil about their father or mother must be executed.’
5 But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or mother, It is a gift, whatsoever [it be] by which [received] from me thou wouldest be profited:
But you tell people, ‘You can say to your father or mother, “What I was going to give to you [to help provide for you], [I have now promised] to give [to God].”’
6 and he shall in no wise honour his father or his mother; and ye have made void the commandment of God on account of your traditional teaching.
And if you do that, you think that you do not need to give anything to help your parents. In [that way], [by teaching people] your traditions, you disregard what God commanded.
7 Hypocrites! well has Esaias prophesied about you, saying,
You only pretend to be good! Isaiah prophesied accurately about you [also when he quoted what God said about your ancestors. God said],
8 This people honour me with the lips, but their heart is far away from me;
‘These people talk [as if they] honor me [MTY], but they do not think about honoring me at all [MET].
9 but in vain do they worship me, teaching [as] teachings commandments of men.
It is useless for them to worship me, because they teach what people thought up [as if I myself had commanded it].’”
10 And having called to [him] the crowd, he said to them, Hear and understand:
Then Jesus [again] summoned the crowd to come [nearer] to him. Then he said to them, “Listen to [what I am about to tell you], and [try to] understand it.
11 Not what enters into the mouth defiles the man; but what goes forth out of the mouth, this defiles the man.
Nothing that a person puts into his mouth [to eat] causes [God to consider] that person to be unacceptable. Instead, it is [the words] that come out of people’s mouths [SYN] that cause [God to reject them].”
12 Then his disciples, coming up, said to him, Dost thou know that the Pharisees, having heard this word, have been offended?
Later we disciples went to Jesus and said, “Do you know that the Pharisees heard what you said, and as a result they felt offended [RHQ]?”
13 But he answering said, Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up.
Then, [to teach us what God would do to the Pharisees], Jesus told [us this parable]: “My Father in heaven [will] get rid of all [those who teach things that are contrary to his truth, just like a farmer] gets rid of plants that he did not plant, by pulling them up along with their roots [MET].
14 Leave them alone; they are blind leaders of blind: but if blind lead blind, both will fall into a ditch.
Do not pay any attention to [the Pharisees]. They [do not help people who do not know God’s truth] to [understand it, just like] blind guides [do not help] blind [people to perceive where they should go] [MET]. If a blind person [tries to] lead [another] blind person, they will both fall into a big hole [MET]. [Similarly, both the Pharisees and their disciples will end up in hell].” (questioned)
15 And Peter answering said to him, Expound to us this parable.
Peter said to Jesus, “Explain to us the parable [about what a person eats].”
16 But he said, Are ye also still without intelligence?
He replied [to them], “(I am disappointed that even you, [who should understand what I teach], still do not understand!/Why is it that even you [who should understand what I teach], still do not understand?) [RHQ]
17 Do ye not yet apprehend, that everything that enters into the mouth finds its way into the belly, and is cast forth into the draught?
(You ought to understand that all [food that people] eat enters their stomachs, and later the refuse passes out of their [bodies]./Cannot you understand that all [food that people] eat enters their stomachs and later the refuse passes out [of their bodies]?) [RHQ] [Because food does not alter what we think and desire, what we eat does not cause God to consider that we are unacceptable to him].
18 but the things which go forth out of the mouth come out of the heart, and those defile man.
[You should know that] what comes out of [people’s] mouths, [meaning everything that they say] [SYN], comes from their inner beings/hearts. Many of the [things that they say] cause [God to consider] them to be unacceptable [to him].
19 For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnessings, blasphemies;
It is people’s innermost beings that [cause them] to think things that are evil, to murder people, to [commit] adultery, to commit other sexual sins, to steal things, to testify falsely, and to speak evil about [others].
20 these are the things which defile man; but the eating with unwashen hands does not defile man.
It is these actions that cause [God to consider] people to be unacceptable [to him]. To eat with unwashed hands does not cause [God to consider] people unacceptable to him.”
21 And Jesus, going forth from thence, went away into the parts of Tyre and Sidon;
After Jesus [took us and] left [Galilee district], we went into the region [where the cities of] Tyre and Sidon [are located].
22 and lo, a Canaanitish woman, coming out from those borders, cried [to him] saying, Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is miserably possessed by a demon.
A woman [from the group of people called] Canaanites who live in that region came [to the place where Jesus was staying]. She kept shouting [to him], “Lord, you are the descendant of [King] David, [you are the Messiah!] Have pity on me [and my daughter!] She is suffering very much because a demon controls her.”
23 But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came to [him] and asked him, saying, Dismiss her, for she cries after us.
But Jesus did not answer her at all. [We] disciples came to him, and [knowing that the woman was not a Jew], we said to him, “Tell her to leave, because she keeps [bothering us] by yelling behind us!”
24 But he answering said, I have not been sent save to the lost sheep of Israel's house.
But Jesus said [to her], “I have been sent {[God] has sent me} to [help] only the Israelite people [at this time] [SYN]. [They are like] sheep that have gotten lost [MET] [because they do not know the way to heaven].”
25 But she came and did him homage, saying, Lord, help me.
But she came [closer] to Jesus and knelt down in front of him [to worship him]. She pled, “Lord/Sir, help me!”
26 But he answering said, It is not well to take the bread of the children and cast it to the dogs.
Then, [to suggest to her that he needed to help the Jews first and not the non-Jews, whom the Jews called dogs], he told her, “It is not good [for someone] to take food [that has been prepared for] the children and throw it to the [little] dogs.”
27 But she said, Yea, Lord; for even the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from the table of their masters.
[But to show that she believed that non-Jews could also receive help from God], the woman said [to Jesus], “Lord/Sir, what you [say is] correct, but even the [little] dogs eat the crumbs that fall to the floor [when] their masters [sit at] their tables [and eat]!”
28 Then Jesus answering said to her, O woman, thy faith [is] great. Be it to thee as thou desirest. And her daughter was healed from that hour.
Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, [because] you believe firmly [in me, I] will [heal your daughter] as you desire!” At that moment [the demon left] her daughter, [and she] became well.
29 And Jesus, going away from thence, came towards the sea of Galilee, and he went up into the mountain and sat down there;
After Jesus, [along with us disciples], departed from that area, we went [back] to Galilee Lake [and walked] along it. Then Jesus climbed the hill [near there] and sat down [to teach the people].
30 and great crowds came to him, having with them lame, blind, dumb, crippled, and many others, and they cast them at his feet, and he healed them:
Crowds kept coming to him for the next two days and brought lame, crippled, and blind people, those who were unable to talk, and many others [who had various sicknesses]. They laid them in front of Jesus [so that he would heal them] [SYN]. And he healed them.
31 so that the crowds wondered, seeing dumb speaking, crippled sound, lame walking, and blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.
The crowd saw [him heal] people who could not talk, crippled people, lame people, and blind people, and they were amazed. They said, “Praise God [who rules over us who live in] Israel!”
32 But Jesus, having called his disciples to [him], said, I have compassion on the crowd, because they have stayed with me already three days and they have not anything they can eat, and I would not send them away fasting lest they should faint on the way.
Then Jesus called us disciples to him and said [to us], “This crowd [of people] has been with me for three days and have nothing [left] to eat. I feel sorry for them. I do not want to send them away [while they are still] hungry, [because if I did that], they might faint on the way [home].”
33 And his disciples say to him, Whence should we have so many loaves in [the] wilderness as to satisfy so great a crowd?
We disciples said to him, “In this place where nobody lives, (we cannot possibly obtain enough food to feed such a large crowd!/how can we obtain a large enough amount of food to feed such a large crowd?) [RHQ]”
34 And Jesus says to them, How many loaves have ye? But they said, Seven, and a few small fishes.
Jesus asked us, “How many small loaves do you have?” We said to him, “[We have] seven small loaves and a few [cooked] fish.”
35 And he commanded the crowds to lie down on the ground;
He told the people to sit on the ground.
36 and having taken the seven loaves and the fishes, having given thanks, he broke [them] and gave [them] to his disciples, and the disciples to the crowd.
Then he took the seven small loaves and the fish. After he thanked [God for them], he broke them [into pieces], and he kept giving [them] to us. Then we [kept distributing] them to the crowd.
37 And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was over and above of the fragments seven baskets full;
[Because Jesus made the food multiply miraculously], all [those people] ate and had [plenty to] satisfy [them]. There were 4,000 men [who ate], but no [one counted] the women and the children [who also ate]. Then we [disciples] collected the pieces of food that were left over, and we filled seven large baskets [with them].
38 but they that ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.
39 And, having dismissed the crowds, he went on board ship and came to the borders of Magadan.
After Jesus dismissed the crowd, he, [along with us], got in the boat, and we sailed [around the lake] to the region called Magadan.
