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].