¹ Some Pharisees and several teachers of the Law of Moses from Jerusalem came and gathered around Jesus.² They noticed that some of his disciples ate without first washing their hands.³ The Pharisees and many other Jewish people obey the teachings of their ancestors. They always wash their hands in the proper waybefore eating.⁴ None of them will eat anything they buy in the market until it is washed. They also follow a lot of other teachings, such as washing cups, pitchers, and bowls.

⁵ The Pharisees and teachers asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples obey what our ancestors taught us to do? Why do they eat without washing their hands?”

⁶ Jesus replied:You are nothing but show-offs! The prophet Isaiah was right when he wrote that God had said, “All of you praise mewith your words, but you never really think about me. ⁷ It is useless for youto worship me, when you teach rules made up by humans.”

⁸ You disobey God’s commands in order to obey what humans have taught.

¹⁴ Jesus called the crowd together again and said, “Pay attention and try to understand what I mean.^15-16 The food that you put into your mouth doesn’t make you unclean and unfit to worship God. The bad words that come out of your mouth are what make you unclean.”

²¹ Out of your heart come evil thoughts, vulgar deeds, stealing, murder,²² unfaithfulness in marriage, greed, meanness, deceit, indecency, envy, insults, pride, and foolishness.²³ All of these come from your heart, and they are what make you unfit to worship God.