13-14 Jesus shrugged it off. “Every tree that wasn’t planted by my Father in heaven will be pulled up by its roots. Forget them. They are blind men leading blind men. When a blind man leads a blind man, they both end up in the ditch.”

15 Peter said, “I don’t get it. Put it in plain language.”

16-20 Jesus replied, “You, too? Are you being willfully stupid? Don’t you know that anything that is swallowed works its way through the intestines and is finally defecated? But what comes out of the mouth gets its start in the heart. It’s from the heart that we vomit up evil arguments, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, lies, and cussing. That’s what pollutes. Eating or not eating certain foods, washing or not washing your hands—that’s neither here nor there.”

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14 Leave them; they are blind guides.[a](A) If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”(B)

15 Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.”(C)

16 “Are you still so dull?”(D) Jesus asked them.

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Footnotes

  1. Matthew 15:14 Some manuscripts blind guides of the blind