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Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said,  
 

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“Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?  For they do not wash their hands before they eat.”
 

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He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?
 

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For God said, ‘Honour your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.’
 

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But you say that whoever tells father or mother, ‘Whatever support you might have had from me is given to God,’ then that person need not honour the father.
 

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So, for the sake of your tradition, you make void the word of God.
 

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You hypocrites!  Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said: 
 

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‘This people honours me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; 

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in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.’ ”
 

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Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand:

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it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” 

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Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?”  

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He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 

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Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind.  And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” 

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But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.”  

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Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 

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Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? 

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But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. 

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For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. 

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These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.” 

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Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon.  

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Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.”  

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But he did not answer her at all.  And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” 

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He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 

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But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 

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He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 

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She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 

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Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith!  Let it be done for you as you wish.”  And her daughter was healed instantly.  
 

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After Jesus had left that place, he passed along the Sea of Galilee, and he went up the mountain, where he sat down.  

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Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others.  They put them at his feet, and he cured them,  

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so that the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing.  And they praised the God of Israel.  

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Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.”
 

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The disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?”  

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Jesus asked them, “How many loaves have you?”  They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.”  

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Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground,  

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he took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.  

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And all of them ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.  

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Those who had eaten were four thousand men, besides women and children.  

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After sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.