Chapter 7

And the Pharisees and some of the Scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered about him.

And when they saw that some of his disciples were eating bread with defiled (that is, unwashed) hands, they found fault.

For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat without frequent washing of hands, holding the tradition of the ancients.

And when they come from the market, they do not eat without washing first. And there have been handed down to them many other things to observe: washing of cups and pots, and brazen vessels and beds.

So the Pharisees and Scribes asked him, "Why do not thy disciples walk according to the tradition of the ancients, instead of eating bread with defiled hands? "

But answering he said to them, "Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;

And in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrine the precepts of men. '

For, letting go the commandment of God, you hold fast the tradition of men, the washing of pots and of cups; and many other things you do like to these."

And he said to them, "Well do you nullify the commandment of God, that you may keep your own tradition!

For Moses said, 'Honor thy father and thy mother'; and, 'Let him who curses father or mother be put to death. '

But you say, 'Let a man say to his father or his mother, "Any support thou mightiest have had from me is Corban"' (that is, given to God).

And you do not allow him to do anything further for his father or mother.

You make void the commandment of God by your tradition, which you have handed down; and many suchlike things you do."

Then he called the crowd to him again, and said to them, "Hear me, all of you, and understand.

There is nothing outside a man that, entering into him, can defile him; but the things that come out of a man, these are what defile a man.

If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."

And when he had entered the house away from the crowd, his disciples began to ask him about the parable.

And he said to them, "Are you also, then, without understanding? Do you not realize that nothing from outside, by entering a man, can defile him?

For it does not enter his heart, but his belly, and passes out into the drain." Thus he declared all foods clean.

"And," he said, "the things that come out of a man are what defile a man.

For from within, out of the heart of men, come evil thoughts, adulteries, immorality, murders,

thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, shamelessness, jealousy, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.

All these things come from within, and defile a man." The Canaanite Woman

And he arose and departed from there for the district of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house, and wanted no one to know it, but he could not keep it secret.

For immediately a woman, whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, on hearing of him, came in and fell down at his feet.

Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she besought him to cast the devil out of her daughter.

But he said to her, "Let the children first have their fill, for it is not fair to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs."

But she answered and said to him, "Yes, Lord; for even the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs."

And he said to her, "Because of this answer, go thy way; the devil has gone out of thy daughter."

And when she went to her house, she found the girl lying upon the bed, and the devil gone. Healing of the Deaf-Mute

And departing again from the district of Tyre, he came by way of Sidon to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the district of Decapolis.

And they brought to him one deaf and dumb, and entreated him to lay his hand upon him.

And taking him aside from the crowd, he put his fingers into the man's ears, and spitting, he touched his tongue.

And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him, "Ephpheta," that is, "Be thou opened."

And his ears were at once opened, and the bond of his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak correctly.

And he charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, so much the more did they continue to publish it.

And so much the more did they wonder, saying, "He has done all things well. He has made both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak."