Matthew 15:8-20

8“ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

9They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ Isaiah 29:13 ” 10Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand.

11What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”

12Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?” 13He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.

14Leave them; they are blind guides. Some manuscripts blind guides of the blind If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

15Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.” 16“Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. 17“Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.

20These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”