Matthew 15:10-20 - Defilement From Within

¹⁰ Then calling out to the crowd, he addressed them, "Listen and understand! ¹¹ It is not what goes into the mouth that makes a person unclean. It is what comes out of the mouth that makes a person unclean."

¹² Then the disciples came and asked him, "Do you realize that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?"

¹³ He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be pulled up by the roots. ¹⁴ Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. If one blind person leads another blind person, both will fall into a ditch."

¹⁵ Then Peter told him, "Explain to us this parable."

¹⁶ Jesus said, "Are you still so ignorant? ¹⁷ Don't you know that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and then is expelled as waste? ¹⁸ But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and it is those things that make a person unclean. ¹⁹ It is out of the heart that evil thoughts come, as well as murder, adultery, sexual immorality, stealing, false testimony, and slander. ²⁰ These are the things that make a person unclean. But eating with unwashed hands doesn't make a person unclean."

¹⁴ Then he called to the crowd again and told them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand! ¹⁵ Nothing that goes into a person from the outside can make him unclean. It's what comes out of a person that makes a person unclean. ¹⁶ If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen!"

¹⁷ When he had left the crowd and gone home, his disciples began asking him about the parable. ¹⁸ He asked them, "Are you so ignorant? Don't you know that nothing that goes into a person from the outside can make him unclean? ¹⁹ Because it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then into the sewer, thereby expelling all foods." ²⁰ Then he continued, "It's what comes out of a person that makes a person unclean, ²¹ because it's from within, from the human heart, that evil thoughts come, as well as sexual immorality, stealing, murder, ²² adultery, greed, wickedness, cheating, shameless lust, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness. ²³ All these things come from inside and make a person unclean."