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

¹ Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus and said, ² "Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat."

³ He answered them, "And why do you transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴ For God commanded, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.'

⁵ But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might have received from me is a gift to God' ⁶ he is not to honor his father with it. Thus you have made the word of God of no effect for the sake of your tradition. ⁷ You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, when he said:

⁸ 'These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. ⁹ In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'"

¹ Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered together to him, ² they saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders. ⁴ When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash themselves. And there are many other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pitchers and copper vessels.) ⁵ The Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with impure hands?"

⁶ And he said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites; as it is written: 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. ⁷ In vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'

⁸ You let go of the commandment of God, and hold on to the tradition of men." ⁹ And he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition! ¹⁰ For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.'

¹¹ But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), ¹² then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother, ¹³ thus making void the word of God through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do."