Knox Bible

1

After this, Jesus was approached by the scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem, who asked:

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Why is it that thy disciples violate the traditions of our ancestors? They do not wash their hands when they eat.

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He answered them, Why is it that you yourselves violate the commandment of God with your traditions?

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God has said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and again, He who curses his father or mother dies without hope of reprieve.✻

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Whereas you say, If a man says to his father or mother, The offering which I make to God is all the advantage you will have from me,✻

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then father or mother can get no service from him. So by these traditions of yours you have made God’s law ineffectual.

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You hypocrites, it was a true prophecy Isaias made of you, when he said,

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This people does me honour with its lips, but its heart is far from me.✻

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Their worship of me is vain, for the doctrines they teach are the commandments of men.

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Then he gathered the multitude about him, and said to them, Listen to this, and grasp what it means.

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It is not what goes into a man’s mouth that makes him unclean; what makes a man unclean is what comes out of his mouth.

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Thereupon his disciples came and said to him, Dost thou know that the Pharisees, when they heard thy saying, took it amiss?

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He answered, No plant but must be rooted up, if my heavenly Father has not planted it.

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Let them say what they will; they are blind men leading the blind, and when one blind man leads another, they will fall into the ditch together.

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Peter answered him, Explain this parable to us.

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What, he said, are you still without wits?

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Do you not observe that any uncleanness which finds its way into a man’s mouth travels down into his belly, and so is cast into the sewer;

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whereas all that comes out of his mouth comes from the heart, and it is that which makes a man unclean?

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It is from the heart that his wicked designs come, his sins of murder, adultery, fornication, theft, perjury and blasphemy.

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It is these make a man unclean; he is not made unclean by eating without washing his hands.

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After this, Jesus left those parts and withdrew into the neighbourhood of Tyre and Sidon.

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And here a woman, a Chanaanite by birth, who came from that country, cried aloud, Have pity on me, Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is cruelly troubled by an evil spirit.

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He gave her no word in answer; but his disciples came to him and pleaded with him; Rid us of her, they said, she is following us with her cries.

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And he answered, My errand is only to the lost sheep that are of the house of Israel.

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Then the woman came up and said, falling at his feet, Lord, help me.

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He answered, It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.

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Ah yes, Lord, she said; the dogs feed on the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.

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And at that Jesus answered her, Woman, for this great faith of thine, let thy will be granted. And from that hour her daughter was cured.✻

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Then Jesus left that country, and passed along the sea of Galilee, and went up into the mountain and sat down there.

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Great multitudes came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the deaf, the crippled, and many besides, whom they laid at his feet; and he healed them:

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so that the multitudes were amazed to find the dumb speaking, the lame walking, and the blind recovering their sight; and they praised the God of Israel for it.

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But now Jesus called his disciples, and said, I am moved with pity for the multitude; it is three days now since they have been in attendance on me, and they have nothing to eat. I must not send them away fasting, or perhaps they will grow faint on their journey.

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His disciples said to him, Where could we find loaves enough in a desert to feed such a multitude?

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And Jesus asked them, How many loaves have you? Seven, they said, and a few small fishes.

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Thereupon he bade the multitude sit down on the ground,

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and he took the seven loaves and the fishes with them, and when he had blessed and broken he gave these to his disciples, and his disciples to the multitude.

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And they all ate and had enough; and they took up what was left of the broken pieces, seven hampers full.

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Four thousand men had eaten, not reckoning women and children.

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And so, taking leave of the multitude, he went on board the ship, and crossed to the region of Magedan.✻