Matthew 15
1 Then [some] Pharisees and men who taught the [Jewish] laws came from Jerusalem [to talk to] Jesus. They said,
Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,
2 “(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!”
Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
3 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]
But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
4 God gave these [two] commands: ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘People who speak evil about their father or mother must be executed.’
For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
5 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].”’
But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;
6 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.
And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
7 You only pretend to be good! Isaiah prophesied accurately about you [also when he quoted what God said about your ancestors. God said],
Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,
8 ‘These people talk [as if they] honor me [MTY], but they do not think about honoring me at all [MET].
This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
9 It is useless for them to worship me, because they teach what people thought up [as if I myself had commanded it].’”
But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
10 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.
And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:
11 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].”
Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
12 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]?”
Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?
13 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].
But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.
14 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)
Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
15 Peter said to Jesus, “Explain to us the parable [about what a person eats].”
Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.
16 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]
And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?
17 (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].
Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
18 [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].
But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
19 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].
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
20 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.”
These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
21 After Jesus [took us and] left [Galilee district], we went into the region [where the cities of] Tyre and Sidon [are located].
Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.
22 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.”
And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
23 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!”
But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
24 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].”
But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
25 But she came [closer] to Jesus and knelt down in front of him [to worship him]. She pled, “Lord/Sir, help me!”
Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
26 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.”
But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.
27 [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]!”
And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.
28 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.
Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
29 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].
And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee; and went up into a mountain, and sat down there.
30 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.
And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them:
31 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!”
Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel.
32 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].”
Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.
33 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]”
And his disciples say unto him, Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude?
34 Jesus asked us, “How many small loaves do you have?” We said to him, “[We have] seven small loaves and a few [cooked] fish.”
And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes.
35 He told the people to sit on the ground.
And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.
36 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.
And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.
37 [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].
And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full.
And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women and children.
39 After Jesus dismissed the crowd, he, [along with us], got in the boat, and we sailed [around the lake] to the region called Magadan.
And he sent away the multitude, and took ship, and came into the coasts of Magdala.
