Chapter 7

  And there are gathered together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem,  

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  and had seen that some of his disciples ate their bread with defiled, that is, unwashen, hands.  

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  (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands diligently, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders;  

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  and [when they come] from the market-place, except they bathe themselves, they eat not; and many other things there are, which they have received to hold, washings of cups, and pots, and brasen vessels.)  

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  And the Pharisees and the scribes ask him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with defiled hands?  

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  And he said unto them, Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoreth me with their lips, But their heart is far from me.  

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  But in vain do they worship me, Teaching [as their] doctrines the precepts of men.  

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  Ye leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.  

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  And he said unto them, Full well do ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your tradition.  

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  For Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother; and, He that speaketh evil of father or mother, let him die the death:  

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  but ye say, If a man shall say to his father or his mother, That wherewith thou mightest have been profited by me is Corban, that is to say, Given [to God];  

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  ye no longer suffer him to do aught for his father or his mother;  

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  making void the word of God by your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things ye do.  

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  And he called to him the multitude again, and said unto them, Hear me all of you, and understand:  

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  there is nothing from without the man, that going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man.  

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  [If any man hath ears to hear, let him hear.]  

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  And when he was entered into the house from the multitude, his disciples asked of him the parable.  

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  And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Perceive ye not, that whatsoever from without goeth into the man, [it] cannot defile him;  

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  because it goeth not into his heart, but into his belly, and goeth out into the draught? [This he said], making all meats clean.  

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  And he said, That which proceedeth out of the man, that defileth the man.  

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  For from within, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,  

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  covetings, wickednesses, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, railing, pride, foolishness:  

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  all these evil things proceed from within, and defile the man.  

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  And from thence he arose, and went away into the borders of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered into a house, and would have no man know it; and he could not be hid.  

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  But straightway a woman, whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, having heard of him, came and fell down at his feet.  

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  Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by race. And she besought him that he would cast forth the demon out of her daughter.  

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  And he said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs.  

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  But she answered and saith unto him, Yea, Lord; even the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.  

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  And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the demon is gone out of thy daughter.  

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  And she went away unto her house, and found the child laid upon the bed, and the demon gone out.  

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  And again he went out from the borders of Tyre, and came through Sidon unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the borders of Decapolis.  

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  And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to lay his hand upon him.  

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  And he took him aside from the multitude privately, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat, and touched his tongue;  

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  and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.  

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  And his ears were opened, and the bond of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.  

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  And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it.  

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  And they were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well; he maketh even the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.  

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