Matthew 15:10-20 - Defilement From Within

¹⁰ Then he called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand. ¹¹ What defiles a person is not what goes into the mouth; it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person."

¹² Then the disciples came to him and said, "Do you know that when the Pharisees heard this saying they were offended?"

¹³ And he replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted. ¹⁴ Leave them! They are blind guides. If someone who is blind leads another who is blind, both will fall into a pit."

¹⁵ But Peter said to him, "Explain this parable to us."

¹⁶ Jesus said, "Even after all this, are you still so foolish? ¹⁷ Don't you understand that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and then passes out into the sewer? ¹⁸ But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a person. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil ideas, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. ²⁰ These are the things that defile a person; it is not eating with unwashed hands that defiles a person."

¹⁴ Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand. ¹⁵ There is nothing outside of a person that can defile him by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles him." ¹⁶ [[EMPTY]]

¹⁷ Now when Jesus had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. ¹⁸ He said to them, "Are you so foolish? Don't you understand that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him? ¹⁹ For it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and then goes out into the sewer." (This means all foods are clean.) ²⁰ He said, "What comes out of a person defiles him. ²¹ For from within, out of the human heart, come evil ideas, sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²² adultery, greed, evil, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, and folly. ²³ All these evils come from within and defile a person."