Matthew 15
1 Then [some] Pharisees and men who taught the [Jewish] laws came from Jerusalem [to talk to] Jesus. They said,
Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem. They said,
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 your disciples violate the traditions of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.”
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]
He answered and said to them, “Then why do you violate the commandment of God for the sake of your traditions?
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 said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'He who speaks evil of his father or mother, will surely die.'
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 you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother “Whatever help you would have received from me is now a gift given to God,”'
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.
that person does not need to honor his father. In this way you have made void the word of God for the sake of your traditions.
7 You only pretend to be good! Isaiah prophesied accurately about you [also when he quoted what God said about your ancestors. God said],
You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you when he said,
8 ‘These people talk [as if they] honor me [MTY], but they do not think about honoring me at all [MET].
'This people honors 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].’”
They worship me in vain, because they teach as their doctrines the commandments of people.'”
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.
Then he called the crowd to himself and said to them, “Listen 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].”
Nothing that enters into the mouth defiles a person. Instead, what comes out of the mouth, this is what defiles a person.”
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 the disciples came and said to Jesus, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?”
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].
Jesus answered and said, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will 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 are blind guides. If a blind person guides another blind person, both will fall into a pit.”
15 Peter said to Jesus, “Explain to us the parable [about what a person eats].”
Peter responded and said to Jesus, “Explain this parable to us.”
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]
Jesus said, “Are you also still 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 you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is then passed out into the latrine?
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 the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart. They are the things that defile a person.
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 from the heart proceed evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, and slander.
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 that defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a person.”
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 away from there and withdrew toward the regions of the cities 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.”
Behold, a Canaanite woman came out from that region. She shouted out and said, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.”
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 Jesus answered her not a word. His disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is shouting 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 Jesus answered and said, “I was not sent to anyone except to 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!”
But she came and bowed down before 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.”
He answered and said, “It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the little 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]!”
She said, “Yes, Lord, but even the little dogs eat some of the crumbs that fall from their masters' tables.”
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 to her, “Woman, great is your faith; let it be done for you just as you wish.” At that hour her daughter was healed.
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].
Jesus left that place and went near to the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up a hill and sat 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.
Large crowds came to him. They brought with them lame, blind, mute, and crippled people, and many others who were sick. They presented them 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!”
So the crowd marveled when they saw the mute persons speak, the crippled made well, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. They praised 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].”
Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have stayed with me for three days already and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away without eating, or they may faint on 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]”
The disciples said to him, “Where can we get enough loaves of bread in such a deserted place to satisfy so large a crowd?”
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.”
Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.”
35 He told the people to sit on the ground.
Then Jesus commanded the crowd 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.
He took the seven loaves and the fish, and after giving thanks, he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples. The disciples gave them to the crowd.
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].
The people all ate and were satisfied. Then they gathered up seven baskets full of the broken pieces that were left over.
Those who ate were four thousand men, besides 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.
Then Jesus sent the crowds away and got into the boat and went into the region of Magadan.
