1Then the Pharisees and some of the religious scholars who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus.
2They noticed that some of his followers were eating food with 'unclean' hands, meaning they hadn't washed them.
3(The Pharisees and all Jews don't eat until they wash their hands and forearms thoroughly, following the traditions passed down from their ancestors.
4Also, when they return from the marketplace, they don't eat until they have ritually washed themselves. And there are many other traditions they observe, like the washing of cups, pitchers, bronze pots, and even dining couches.)
5So the Pharisees and religious scholars asked him, "Why don't your followers live according to the traditions of our ancestors? Instead, they eat with unwashed hands!"
6He answered them, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites, as it is written: 'These people honor me with their words, but their hearts are far from me.'
7'They worship me in vain, teaching human rules as if they were God's commands.'
8You ignore God's commands and instead cling to human traditions, like the washing of pitchers and cups. And you do many other similar things."
9He went on to say, "You have a clever way of rejecting God's commands in order to keep your own traditions.
10For example, Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'Anyone who speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.'
11But you say that if someone tells their father or mother, 'Whatever help you might have received from me is Corban' (meaning, an offering given to God),
12then you no longer allow them to do anything for their father or mother.
13By doing this, you cancel out God's word with your tradition that you have passed down. And you do many other similar things."
14Then Jesus called the crowd to him again and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this.
15Nothing that goes into a person from the outside can truly make them 'unclean'; rather, it's the things that come out of a person that make them 'unclean.'"
16If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear!
17After he had left the crowd and entered a house, his followers asked him about the meaning of this saying.
18He said to them, "Are you also so slow to understand? Don't you realize that nothing that goes into a person from the outside can make them 'unclean,'
19because it doesn't go into their heart, but into their stomach, and then out of the body?" (By saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
20He said, “What comes out of a person is what makes them unclean.
21Because from inside, from people's hearts, come evil thoughts, adultery, sexual immorality, murder, theft,
22greed, wickedness, deceit, lust, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.”
23“All these evil things come from within and make a person unclean.”
24From there, he left and went to the area of Tyre and Sidon. He entered a house and didn’t want anyone to know he was there, but he couldn't stay hidden.
25A woman whose young daughter had an evil spirit heard about him. She came and fell at his feet.
26The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
27But Jesus told her, “Let the children eat their fill first, because it’s not right to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”
28But she answered him, “Yes, Lord. Even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
29He said to her, “Because of what you said, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.”
30She went home and found the child lying on the bed, and the demon was gone.
31Again, he left the area of Tyre and Sidon and went to the Sea of Galilee, going through the region of Decapolis.
32People brought to him a man who was deaf and had trouble speaking. They begged him to lay his hand on the man.
33Jesus took him aside from the crowd, privately. He put his fingers into the man’s ears, then he spit and touched the man’s tongue.
34Looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha!” which means, “Be opened!”
35Immediately, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was freed, and he began to speak clearly.
36Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone, but the more he ordered them, the more widely they announced it.
37They were completely amazed and said, “He does everything well! He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”