Mark 7:3-18

3(The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat food until they have washed their hands carefully. They do this because of what their leaders taught them.

4When they come from the market place, they always wash themselves carefully. Unless they do this, they do not eat anything. Their leaders also gave them rules about how they should wash cups, pots and metal bowls.)

5The Pharisees and the teachers of God's Law said to Jesus, ‘Your disciples do not obey the things that our leaders taught many years ago. Your disciples have not washed their hands in the right way. They are eating their food with unclean hands. That is not right.’

6Jesus said to them, ‘You are hypocrites! What God's prophet Isaiah wrote about you long ago is true: God says, “These people say good things about me, but they do not really want to obey me.

7They say that I am great. But what they say has no purpose. They teach their own rules, which I did not give to them.” ’

8Jesus then said, ‘You have stopped obeying God. Instead you obey the ideas that men teach.’

9He said to them, ‘You refuse to obey God's rules, because then you can keep your own ideas!

10For example, Moses wrote, “You must love your father and your mother. You must obey them.” He also said, “You must kill anyone who curses his father or his mother.”

11But you teach that a person may say to his father or to his mother, “I would have given gifts to help you. But I cannot do that, because I have given them to God instead.”

12If he says that, you let him do nothing to help his father or his mother.

13This shows that you have not obeyed what God says is right. Instead, you have obeyed the ideas that you received from your leaders many years ago. And you do many other things like that.’

14Jesus asked the crowd of people to come to him again. He said to them, ‘Listen to me, all of you, so that you can understand these things.

15People do not become unclean because of things that go into their bodies from outside. They become unclean because of the things that come out from their minds.

16[You have heard my words. So do what I say.’]

17Jesus left the crowd of people and he went into a house. Then his disciples asked him to explain what he had taught.

18Jesus said, ‘I am surprised that you too do not understand what I am saying. You should understand that food will not make people unclean. Food goes into people's bodies from outside.