Chapter VII

CHRIST'S DOCTRINE OF DEFILEMENT; CURING A GENTILE DEMONIAC, AND A DEAF AND DUMB PERSON.

1 [7:1]AND the Pharisees and some of the scribes having come from Jerusalem came together to him, [7:2]and seeing some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, unwashed hands, [they found fault]. [7:3]For the Pharisees and all the Jews eat not unless they wash their hands with the fist, holding the tradition of the elders. [7:4]And from a market, unless they baptize they eat not; and there are many other [customs] which they have received to hold; baptisms, of cups and sextuses [1 1-2 pint measures], and brass vessels, and beds. [7:5]And the Pharisees and scribes asked, Why do not your disciples conform to the tradition of the elders; but eat bread with defiled hands?

2 [7:6]And he said to them, Well did Isaiah prophecy of you, hypocrites, as it is written; This people honors me with the lips, but their heart is far from me; [7:7]but in vain do they worship me, teaching for teachings the commandments of men; [7:8]for leaving the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men.

3 [7:9]And he said to them, Well do you reject the commandment of God, to keep your tradition; [7:10]for Moses said, Honor your father and your mother, and, He that reviles father or mother, let him surely die. [7:11]But you say, If a man says to his father or mother, It is a corban, which is a gift, by whatever you might be profited by me, [he shall be free]; [7:12]and suffer him no longer to do any thing for his father or his mother; [7:13]making the word of God of no effect by your tradition which you have delivered; and many such things you do. [7:14]And again calling all the people, he said to them, Hear me, all of you, and understand. [7:15]Nothing which being out of a man entering into him, can defile him; but those things which proceed from the man, these are the things which defile the man.

4 [7:17]And when he had gone from the multitude into the house, his disciples asked him concerning the parable. [7:18]And he said to them, Are you also so without understanding? Do you not understand that nothing which enters into a man from without can defile him, [7:19]because it enters not into his heart, but into the stomach, and goes out to the earth, purifying all aliments? [7:20] But he said, that which comes out of the man, this defiles him; [7:21]for from within, from the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, fornications, [7:22] thefts, murders, adulteries, covetousness, malice, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. [7:23]All these evil things proceed from within, and defile the man.

5 [7:24]And he rose up, and departed thence to the regions of Tyre. And entering into a house he wished no one to know it; and he could not be hid. [7:25]But immediately, a woman whose little daughter had an impure spirit, hearing of him, came and fell down at his feet; [7:26]and she was a Greek, a Syrophenician by race; and she asked him to cast the demon out of her daughter. [7:27]And he said to her, Suffer the children first to be filled; it is not right to take the children's bread, and cast it to the little dogs. [7:28]And she answered and said to him, Yes, Lord; for even the little dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. [7:29]And he said to her, For this speech, go; the demon has gone out of your daughter. [7:30]And departing to her house, she found the little child laid on the bed, and the demon gone out.

6 [7:31]And again going out of the bounds of Tyre, he came through Sidon, to the lake of Galilee, in the midst of the bounds of Decapolis. [7:32]And they brought him a dumb man that stammered, and besought him to put his hand on him. [7:33]And taking him from the multitude by himself, he put his fingers in his ears, and spit, and touched his tongue, [7:34]and looking up to heaven he groaned, and said to him, Ephphatha, which is, Be opened. [7:35]And immediately his ears were opened, and the cord of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke correctly. [7:36]And he charged them to tell no one; but as much as he charged them, so much the more they proclaimed [his works]. [7:37]And they were astonished above measure, and said, He has done all things well; he makes both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.