Matthew 15:1-9 - Human Traditions And God's Commandments

¹ Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem, and said to him, ² "Why do your disciples break the rules handed down by our ancestors? For they eat their bread without first washing their hands."

³ But he answered, "Why do you too break God's command for the sake of what has been handed down to you? ⁴ For God said, 'Honor your father and mother,' and 'He who abuses his father or mother must be put to death.'

⁵ But you say, 'Whoever tells his father or mother, "Anything of mine that might have been of use to you is given to God," ⁶ does not have to provide for his father.' So you have nullified what God has said, for the sake of what has been handed down to you. ⁷ You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied finely about you when he said,

⁸ " 'This people honor me with their lips, Yet their hearts are far away from me. ⁹ But their worship of me is all in vain, For the lessons they teach are but human precepts.' "

¹ The Pharisees gathered about him with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem. ² They had noticed that some of his disciples ate their food without first giving their hands a ceremonial washing to purify them. ³ For the Pharisees and all the Jews observe the rules handed down from their ancestors, and will not eat until they have washed their hands in a particular way, ⁴ and they will not eat anything from the market without first purifying it by sprinkling it, and they have a number of other observances which have come down to them, in the way of washing cups, pitchers, and basins. ⁵ And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not observe the rules handed down by our ancestors, but eat food without purifying their hands?"

⁶ But he said to them, "It was about you hypocrites that Isaiah prophesied so finely, in the words, " 'This people honor me with their lips, Yet their hearts are far away from me. ⁷ But their worship of me is all in vain, For the lessons they teach are but human precepts.'

⁸ "You give up what God has commanded and hold fast to what men have handed down. ⁹ "How skilful you are," he said to them, "in nullifying what God has commanded in order to observe what has been handed down to you. ¹⁰ For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and again, 'Whoever abuses his father or mother must be put to death.'

¹¹ But you say, 'If a man says to his father or mother, "Anything of mine that might have been of use to you is Korban," ' that is, consecrated to God, ¹² you let him off from doing anything more for his father or mother, ¹³ and so you nullify what God has said by what you have handed down. You have many such practices."