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Matthew 15 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

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Jesus Teaches about Inner Purity
(Mar 7:1–23 )
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:1 - Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked him,
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:2 - “Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:3 - Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God?
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:4 - For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother,’[fn] and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:5 - But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:6 - In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents.[fn] And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:7 - You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:8 - ‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:9 - Their worship is a farce,
for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:10 - Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “Listen,” he said, “and try to understand.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:11 - It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth.”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:12 - Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you realize you offended the Pharisees by what you just said?”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:13 - Jesus replied, “Every plant not planted by my heavenly Father will be uprooted,
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:14 - so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:15 - Then Peter said to Jesus, “Explain to us the parable that says people aren’t defiled by what they eat.”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:16 - “Don’t you understand yet?” Jesus asked.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:17 - “Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:18 - But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:19 - For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:20 - These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you.”
The Faith of a Gentile Woman
(Mar 7:24–30 )
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:21 - Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:22 - A Gentile[fn] woman who lived there came to him, pleading, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! For my daughter is possessed by a demon that torments her severely.”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:23 - But Jesus gave her no reply, not even a word. Then his disciples urged him to send her away. “Tell her to go away,” they said. “She is bothering us with all her begging.”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:24 - Then Jesus said to the woman, “I was sent only to help God’s lost sheep—the people of Israel.”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:25 - But she came and worshiped him, pleading again, “Lord, help me!”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:26 - Jesus responded, “It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:27 - She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their masters’ table.”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:28 - “Dear woman,” Jesus said to her, “your faith is great. Your request is granted.” And her daughter was instantly healed.
Jesus Heals Many People
(Mar 7:31–37 )
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:29 - Jesus returned to the Sea of Galilee and climbed a hill and sat down.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:30 - A vast crowd brought to him people who were lame, blind, crippled, those who couldn’t speak, and many others. They laid them before Jesus, and he healed them all.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:31 - The crowd was amazed! Those who hadn’t been able to speak were talking, the crippled were made well, the lame were walking, and the blind could see again! And they praised the God of Israel.
Jesus Feeds Four Thousand
(Mar 8:1–10 )
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:32 - Then Jesus called his disciples and told them, “I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, or they will faint along the way.”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:33 - The disciples replied, “Where would we get enough food here in the wilderness for such a huge crowd?”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:34 - Jesus asked, “How much bread do you have?”
They replied, “Seven loaves, and a few small fish.”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:35 - So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:36 - Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces. He gave them to the disciples, who distributed the food to the crowd.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:37 - They all ate as much as they wanted. Afterward, the disciples picked up seven large baskets of leftover food.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:38 - There were 4,000 men who were fed that day, in addition to all the women and children.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 15:39 - Then Jesus sent the people home, and he got into a boat and crossed over to the region of Magadan.
NLT Footnotes
Exod 20:12; Deut 5:16.
Exod 21:17 (Greek version); Lev 20:9 (Greek version).
Greek their father; other manuscripts read their father or their mother.
Isa 29:13 (Greek version).
Isa 29:13 (Greek version).
Greek Canaanite.
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.

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