The Heart of Man

¹⁴ After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵ there is nothing outside the person which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which come out of the person are what defile the person^[a].”

¹⁷ And when He later entered a house, away from the crowd, ^(A)His disciples asked Him about the parable. ¹⁸ And He *said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding as well? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the person from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and ^[b]is eliminated?” (Thereby He declared ^(B)all foods ^(C)clean.) ²⁰ And He was saying, “^(D)That which comes out of the person, that is what defiles the person. ²¹ For from within, out of the ^[c]hearts of people, come the evil thoughts, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, murders, acts of adultery, ²² deeds of greed, wickedness, deceit, indecent behavior, ^[d](E)envy, slander, ^[e]pride, and foolishness. ²³ All these evil things come from within and defile the person.”

The Syrophoenician Woman

^24 (F)Now Jesus got up and went from there to the region of ^(G)Tyre^[f]. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know about it; and yet He could not escape notice. ²⁵ But after hearing about Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. ²⁶ Now the woman was a ^[g]Gentile, of Syrophoenician descent. And she repeatedly asked Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ And He was saying to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not ^[h]good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the ^[i]dogs.” ²⁸ But she answered and *said to Him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.” ²⁹ And He said to her, “Because of this ^[j]answer, go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” ³⁰ And after going back to her home, she found the child ^[k]lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

^31 (H)Again He left the region of ^(I)Tyre and came through Sidon to ^(J)the Sea of Galilee, within the region of ^(K)Decapolis. ³² And they *brought to Him one who was deaf and had difficulty speaking, and they *begged Him to ^(L)lay His hand on him. ³³ And Jesus ^(M)took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers in his ears, and after ^(N)spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; ³⁴ and looking up to heaven with a deep ^(O)sigh, He *said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” ³⁵ And his ears were opened, and the ^[l]impediment of his tongue was ^[m]removed, and he began speaking plainly. ³⁶ And ^(P)He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they ^(Q)continued to proclaim it. ³⁷ And they were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even those who are deaf hear, and those who are unable to talk, speak.”

Four Thousand Men Fed

8 In those days, ^(A)when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus summoned His disciples and *said to them, ² “^(B)I feel compassion for the ^[a]people because they have remained with Me for three days already and have nothing to eat. ³ And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance.” ⁴ And His disciples replied to Him, “Where will anyone be able to find enough ^[b]bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?” ⁵ And He was asking them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven.” ⁶ And He *directed the ^[c]people to recline on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to serve, and they served them to the ^[d]people. ⁷ They also had a few small fish; and ^(C)after He had blessed them, He told the disciples to serve these as well. ⁸ And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large ^(D)baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces. ⁹ About four thousand ^[e]men were there; and He dismissed them. ¹⁰ And immediately He got into the boat with His disciples and came to the region of ^(E)Dalmanutha.

^11 (F)And the Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, ^(G)demanding from Him a ^[f]sign from heaven, ^[g]to test Him. ^12 (H)Sighing deeply in His spirit, He *said, “Why does this generation demand a ^[h]sign? Truly I say to you, ^[i](I)no ^[j]sign will be given to this generation!” ¹³ And leaving them, He again embarked and went away to the other side.

¹⁴ And the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. ¹⁵ And He was giving orders to them, saying, “^(J)Watch out! Beware of the ^[k]leaven of the Pharisees, and the leaven of ^(K)Herod.” ¹⁶ And they began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. ¹⁷ And Jesus, aware of this, *said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? ^(L)Do you not yet comprehend or understand? Do you still have your heart ^[l]hardened? ^18 (M)Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember, ¹⁹ when I broke ^(N)the five loaves for the five thousand, how many ^(O)baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” They *said to Him, “Twelve.” ²⁰ “When I broke ^(P)the seven for the four thousand, how many large ^(Q)baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?” And they *said to Him, “Seven.” ²¹ And He was saying to them, “^(R)Do you not yet understand?”