- Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand.
- What goes into someone's mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them."
- Then the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?"
- He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.
- Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit."
- Peter said, "Explain the parable to us."
- "Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them.
- "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body?
- But the things that come out of a person's mouth come from the heart, and these defile them.
- For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
- These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them."
- Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
- A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly."
- Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us."
- He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."
- The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said.
- He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs."
- "Yes it is, Lord," she said. "Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table."
- Then Jesus said to her, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed at that moment.