Matthew 15
1 Then there came to Jesus a party of Pharisees and Scribes from Jerusalem, who inquired,
Then [some] Pharisees and men who taught the [Jewish] laws came from Jerusalem [to talk to] Jesus. They said,
2 "Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the Elders by not washing their hands before meals?"
“(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 "Why do you, too," He retorted, "transgress God's commands for the sake of your tradition?
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 said, 'Honour thy father and thy mother'; and 'Let him who reviles father or mother be certainly put to 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 you--this is what you say: 'If a man says to his father or mother, That is consecrated, whatever it is, which otherwise you should have received from me--
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 he shall be absolved from honouring his father'; and so you have abrogated God's Word for the sake of your tradition.
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 did Isaiah prophesy of you,
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 is a People who honour Me with their lips, while 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 it is in vain they worship Me, while they lay down precepts which are mere human rules.'"
It is useless for them to worship me, because they teach what people thought up [as if I myself had commanded it].’”
10 Then, when He had called the people to Him, Jesus said, "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 It is not what goes into a man's mouth that defiles him; but it is what comes out of his mouth--that defiles a 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 came and said to Him, "Do you know that the Pharisees were greatly shocked when they heard those words?"
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 "Every plant," He replied, "which my Heavenly Father has not planted will 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 guides of the blind; and if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into some pit."
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 "Explain to us this figurative language," said Peter.
Peter said to Jesus, “Explain to us the parable [about what a person eats].”
16 "Are even you," He answered, "still without intellingence?
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 you not understand that whatever enters the mouth passes into the stomach and is afterwards ejected from the body?
(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 that come out of the mouth proceed from the heart, and it is these that defile the 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 proceed wicked thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, perjury, impiety of speech.
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 the man; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile."
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 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew into the vicinity 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 Here a Canaanitish woman of the district came out and persistently cried out, "Sir, Son of David, pity me; my daughter is cruelly harassed 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 answered her not a word. Then the disciples interposed, and begged Him, saying, "Send her away because she keeps crying behind 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 "I have only been sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," He replied.
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 Then she came and threw herself at His feet and entreated Him. "O Sir, help me," she said.
But she came [closer] to Jesus and knelt down in front of him [to worship him]. She pled, “Lord/Sir, help me!”
26 "It is not right," He said, "to take the children's bread and throw 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 "Be it so, Sir," she said, "for even the dogs eat the scraps which fall from their masters' tables."
[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 "O woman," replied Jesus, "great is your faith: be it done to you as you desire." And from that moment her daughter was restored to health.
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 Again, moving thence, Jesus went along by the Lake of Galilee; and ascending the hill, He 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 Soon great crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were crippled in feet or hands, blind or dumb, and many besides, and they hastened to lay them at His feet. And He cured 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 people were amazed to see the dumb speaking, the maimed with their hands perfect, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they gave the glory to 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 called His disciples to Him and said, "My heart yearns over this mass of people, for it is now the third day that they have been with me and they have nothing to eat. I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they should faint on the road."
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 "Where can we," asked the disciples, "get bread enough in this remote place to satisfy so vast a multitude?"
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 "How many loaves have you?" Jesus asked. "Seven," they said, "and a few small fish."
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 So He bade all the people sit down on the ground,
He told the people to sit on the ground.
36 and He took the seven loaves and the fish, and after giving thanks He broke them up and then distributed them to the disciples, and they to the people.
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 they all ate and were satisfied. The broken portions that remained over they took up--seven full hampers.
[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 Those who ate were 4,000 adult men, without reckoning women and children.
39 He then dismissed the people, went on board the boat, and came into the district 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.
