3. He replied to them, And why also do you transgress and violate the commandment of God for the sake of the rules handed down to you by your forefathers (the elders)?
4. For God commanded, Honor your father and your mother, and, He who curses or reviles or speaks evil of or abuses or treats improperly his father or mother, let him surely come to his end by death. [Exod. 20:12; 21:17; Lev. 20:9; Deut. 5:16.]
5. But you say, If anyone tells his father or mother, What you would have gained from me [that is, the money and whatever I have that might be used for helping you] is already dedicated as a gift to God, then he is exempt and no longer under obligation to honor and help his father or his mother.
6. So for the sake of your tradition (the rules handed down by your forefathers), you have set aside the Word of God [depriving it of force and authority and making it of no effect].
7. You pretenders (hypocrites)! Admirably and truly did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said:
8. These people draw near Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts hold off and are far away from Me.
9. Uselessly do they worship Me, for they teach as doctrines the commands of men. [Isa. 29:13.]
10. And Jesus called the people to Him and said to them, Listen and grasp and comprehend this:
11. It is not what goes into the mouth of a man that makes him unclean and defiled, but what comes out of the mouth; this makes a man unclean and defiles [him].
12. Then the disciples came and said to Him, Do You know that the Pharisees were displeased and offended and indignant when they heard this saying?
13. He answered, Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be torn up by the roots. [Isa. 60:21.]
14. Let them alone and disregard them; they are blind guides and teachers. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a ditch.
15. But Peter said to Him, Explain this proverb (this maxim) to us.
16. And He said, Are you also even yet dull and ignorant [without understanding and unable to put things together]?
17. Do you not see and understand that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the abdomen and so passes on into the place where discharges are deposited?
18. But whatever comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this is what makes a man unclean and defiles [him].
19. For out of the heart come evil thoughts (reasonings and disputings and designs) such as murder, adultery, sexual vice, theft, false witnessing, slander, and irreverent speech.
20. These are what make a man unclean and defile [him]; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him unclean or defile [him].