¹ Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem, saying, ²“Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat ⌞a meal⌟.” ³So he answered and said to them, “Why do you also break the commandment of God because of your tradition? ⁴For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘The one who speaks evil of father or mother ⌞must certainly die⌟.’ ⁵But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or his mother, “Whatever ⌞benefit you would have received⌟ from me is a gift to God,” ⁶need not honor his father,’ and you make void the word of God for the sake of your tradition. ⁷Hypocrites! Isaiah correctly prophesied about you saying, ⁸ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far, far away from me, ⁹ and they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ” ¹⁰ And summoning the crowd, he said to them, “Hear and understand: ¹¹It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth—this defiles a person.” ¹²Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” ¹³And he answered and said, “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted. ¹⁴Let them! They are blind guides of the blind. And if the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.” ¹⁵But Peter answered and said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” ¹⁶But he said, “Are you also still without understanding? ¹⁷Do you not understand that everything that enters into the mouth goes into the stomach and is evacuated into the latrine? ¹⁸But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these defile the person. ¹⁹For from the heart come evil plans, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, abusive speech. ²⁰These are the things that defile a person. But eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person!” ²¹ And departing from there, Jesus went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. ²²And behold, a Canaanite woman from that district came and cried out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely possessed by a demon!” ²³But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came up and asked him, saying, “Send her away, because she is crying out after us!” ²⁴But he answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵But she came and knelt down before him, saying, “Lord, help me!” ²⁶And he answered and said, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs!” ²⁷So she said, “Yes, Lord, for even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” ²⁸Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, your faith is great! Let it be done for you as you want.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.