Matthew 15
1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Yeshua from Jerusalem, saying,
Then [some] Pharisees and men who taught the [Jewish] laws came from Jerusalem [to talk to] Jesus. They said,
2 “Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat bread.”
“(We think it is disgusting that your disciples disobey the traditions of our ancestors!/Why do your disciples disobey [what our ancestors wrote down and] our [elders taught us]?) [RHQ] They do not perform the proper ritual of washing their hands before they eat!”
3 He answered them, “Why do you also disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition?
Jesus answered them, “(What is really disgusting is that you refuse to obey God’s commands [just] so that you can follow what your ancestors taught you!/Why do you refuse to obey what God commanded [people to do, just] so that you can follow your own traditions?) [RHQ]
4 For God commanded, ‘Honour your father and your mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’
God gave these [two] commands: ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘People who speak evil about their father or mother must be executed.’
5 But you say, ‘Whoever may tell his father or his mother, “Whatever help you might otherwise have gotten from me is a gift devoted to God,”
But you tell people, ‘You can say to your father or mother, “What I was going to give to you [to help provide for you], [I have now promised] to give [to God].”’
6 he shall not honour his father or mother.’ You have made the commandment of God void because of your tradition.
And if you do that, you think that you do not need to give anything to help your parents. In [that way], [by teaching people] your traditions, you disregard what God commanded.
7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,
You only pretend to be good! Isaiah prophesied accurately about you [also when he quoted what God said about your ancestors. God said],
8 ‘These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honour me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
‘These people talk [as if they] honor me [MTY], but they do not think about honoring me at all [MET].
9 And they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrine rules made by men.’”
It is useless for them to worship me, because they teach what people thought up [as if I myself had commanded it].’”
10 He summoned the multitude, and said to them, “Hear, and understand.
Then Jesus [again] summoned the crowd to come [nearer] to him. Then he said to them, “Listen to [what I am about to tell you], and [try to] understand it.
11 That which enters into the mouth doesn’t defile the man; but that which proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”
Nothing that a person puts into his mouth [to eat] causes [God to consider] that person to be unacceptable. Instead, it is [the words] that come out of people’s mouths [SYN] that cause [God to reject them].”
12 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”
Later we disciples went to Jesus and said, “Do you know that the Pharisees heard what you said, and as a result they felt offended [RHQ]?”
13 But he answered, “Every plant which my heavenly Father didn’t plant will be uprooted.
Then, [to teach us what God would do to the Pharisees], Jesus told [us this parable]: “My Father in heaven [will] get rid of all [those who teach things that are contrary to his truth, just like a farmer] gets rid of plants that he did not plant, by pulling them up along with their roots [MET].
14 Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. If the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
Do not pay any attention to [the Pharisees]. They [do not help people who do not know God’s truth] to [understand it, just like] blind guides [do not help] blind [people to perceive where they should go] [MET]. If a blind person [tries to] lead [another] blind person, they will both fall into a big hole [MET]. [Similarly, both the Pharisees and their disciples will end up in hell].” (questioned)
15 Peter answered him, “Explain the parable to us.”
Peter said to Jesus, “Explain to us the parable [about what a person eats].”
16 So Yeshua said, “Do you also still not understand?
He replied [to them], “(I am disappointed that even you, [who should understand what I teach], still do not understand!/Why is it that even you [who should understand what I teach], still do not understand?) [RHQ]
17 Don’t you understand that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the belly and then out of the body?
(You ought to understand that all [food that people] eat enters their stomachs, and later the refuse passes out of their [bodies]./Cannot you understand that all [food that people] eat enters their stomachs and later the refuse passes out [of their bodies]?) [RHQ] [Because food does not alter what we think and desire, what we eat does not cause God to consider that we are unacceptable to him].
18 But the things which proceed out of the mouth come out of the heart, and they defile the man.
[You should know that] what comes out of [people’s] mouths, [meaning everything that they say] [SYN], comes from their inner beings/hearts. Many of the [things that they say] cause [God to consider] them to be unacceptable [to him].
19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual sins, thefts, false testimony, and blasphemies.
It is people’s innermost beings that [cause them] to think things that are evil, to murder people, to [commit] adultery, to commit other sexual sins, to steal things, to testify falsely, and to speak evil about [others].
20 These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands doesn’t defile the man.”
It is these actions that cause [God to consider] people to be unacceptable [to him]. To eat with unwashed hands does not cause [God to consider] people unacceptable to him.”
21 Yeshua went out from there and withdrew into the region of Tyre and Sidon.
After Jesus [took us and] left [Galilee district], we went into the region [where the cities of] Tyre and Sidon [are located].
22 Behold, a Canaanite woman came out from those borders and cried, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, you son of David! My daughter is severely possessed by a demon!”
A woman [from the group of people called] Canaanites who live in that region came [to the place where Jesus was staying]. She kept shouting [to him], “Lord, you are the descendant of [King] David, [you are the Messiah!] Have pity on me [and my daughter!] She is suffering very much because a demon controls her.”
23 But he answered her not a word. His disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away; for she cries after us.”
But Jesus did not answer her at all. [We] disciples came to him, and [knowing that the woman was not a Jew], we said to him, “Tell her to leave, because she keeps [bothering us] by yelling behind us!”
24 But he answered, “I wasn’t sent to anyone but the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
But Jesus said [to her], “I have been sent {[God] has sent me} to [help] only the Israelite people [at this time] [SYN]. [They are like] sheep that have gotten lost [MET] [because they do not know the way to heaven].”
25 But she came and worshipped him, saying, “Lord, help me.”
But she came [closer] to Jesus and knelt down in front of him [to worship him]. She pled, “Lord/Sir, help me!”
26 But he answered, “It is not appropriate to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
Then, [to suggest to her that he needed to help the Jews first and not the non-Jews, whom the Jews called dogs], he told her, “It is not good [for someone] to take food [that has been prepared for] the children and throw it to the [little] dogs.”
27 But she said, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”
[But to show that she believed that non-Jews could also receive help from God], the woman said [to Jesus], “Lord/Sir, what you [say is] correct, but even the [little] dogs eat the crumbs that fall to the floor [when] their masters [sit at] their tables [and eat]!”
28 Then Yeshua answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Be it done to you even as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.
Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, [because] you believe firmly [in me, I] will [heal your daughter] as you desire!” At that moment [the demon left] her daughter, [and she] became well.
29 Yeshua departed from there and came near to the sea of Galilee; and he went up on the mountain and sat there.
After Jesus, [along with us disciples], departed from that area, we went [back] to Galilee Lake [and walked] along it. Then Jesus climbed the hill [near there] and sat down [to teach the people].
30 Great multitudes came to him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others, and they put them down at his feet. He healed them,
Crowds kept coming to him for the next two days and brought lame, crippled, and blind people, those who were unable to talk, and many others [who had various sicknesses]. They laid them in front of Jesus [so that he would heal them] [SYN]. And he healed them.
31 so that the multitude wondered when they saw the mute speaking, the injured healed, the lame walking, and the blind seeing—and they glorified the God of Israel.
The crowd saw [him heal] people who could not talk, crippled people, lame people, and blind people, and they were amazed. They said, “Praise God [who rules over us who live in] Israel!”
32 Yeshua summoned his disciples and said, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have continued with me now three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away fasting, or they might faint on the way.”
Then Jesus called us disciples to him and said [to us], “This crowd [of people] has been with me for three days and have nothing [left] to eat. I feel sorry for them. I do not want to send them away [while they are still] hungry, [because if I did that], they might faint on the way [home].”
33 The disciples said to him, “Where could we get so many loaves in a deserted place as to satisfy so great a multitude?”
We disciples said to him, “In this place where nobody lives, (we cannot possibly obtain enough food to feed such a large crowd!/how can we obtain a large enough amount of food to feed such a large crowd?) [RHQ]”
34 Yeshua said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.”
Jesus asked us, “How many small loaves do you have?” We said to him, “[We have] seven small loaves and a few [cooked] fish.”
35 He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground;
He told the people to sit on the ground.
36 and he took the seven loaves and the fish. He gave thanks and broke them, and gave to the disciples, and the disciples to the multitudes.
Then he took the seven small loaves and the fish. After he thanked [God for them], he broke them [into pieces], and he kept giving [them] to us. Then we [kept distributing] them to the crowd.
37 They all ate and were filled. They took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces that were left over.
[Because Jesus made the food multiply miraculously], all [those people] ate and had [plenty to] satisfy [them]. There were 4,000 men [who ate], but no [one counted] the women and the children [who also ate]. Then we [disciples] collected the pieces of food that were left over, and we filled seven large baskets [with them].
38 Those who ate were four thousand men, in addition to women and children.
39 Then he sent away the multitudes, got into the boat, and came into the borders of Magdala.
After Jesus dismissed the crowd, he, [along with us], got in the boat, and we sailed [around the lake] to the region called Magadan.
