24 Jesus
left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre.[g] He entered
a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence
secret. 25 In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman
whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his
feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She
begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.
27 “First
let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take
the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
28 “Lord,”
she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
29 Then
he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”
30 She
went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
The
Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem
gathered around Jesus 2 and saw some of his disciples eating
food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (The
Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial
washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 When they
come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe
many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.[a])
5 So
the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples
live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with
defiled hands?”
6 He
replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is
written:
“‘These
people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me. 7 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’[b]
8 You
have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”
9 And
he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in
order to observe[c] your own
traditions! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’[d] and,
‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[e]11 But
you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their
father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)— 12 then
you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. 13 Thus
you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And
you do many things like that.”
14 Again
Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand
this. 15 Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into
them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” [16] [f]
17 After
he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this
parable. 18 “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that
nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? 19 For
it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the
body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
20 He
went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. 21 For
it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual
immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these
evils come from inside and defile a person.”
In
the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham king of Judah
began to reign. 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became
king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Unlike David his father, he
did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord
his God. 3 He followed the ways of the kings of Israel and even
sacrificed his son in the fire, engaging in the detestable practices of the
nations the Lord had driven out
before the Israelites. 4 He offered sacrifices and burned
incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree.
5 Then
Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight
against Jerusalem and besieged Ahaz, but they could not overpower him. 6 At
that time, Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram by driving out the
people of Judah. Edomites then moved into Elath and have lived there to this
day.
7 Ahaz
sent messengers to say to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, “I am your servant
and vassal. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram and of the
king of Israel, who are attacking me.” 8 And Ahaz took the
silver and gold found in the temple of the Lord
and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as a gift to the king of
Assyria. 9 The king of Assyria complied by attacking Damascus
and capturing it. He deported its inhabitants to Kir and put Rezin to death.
10 Then
King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. He saw an
altar in Damascus and sent to Uriah the priest a sketch of the altar, with
detailed plans for its construction. 11 So Uriah the priest
built an altar in accordance with all the plans that King Ahaz had sent from
Damascus and finished it before King Ahaz returned. 12 When the
king came back from Damascus and saw the altar, he approached it and presented
offerings[a] on it. 13 He
offered up his burnt offering and grain offering, poured out his drink
offering, and splashed the blood of his fellowship offerings against the altar.
14 As for the bronze altar that stood before the Lord, he brought it from the front of
the temple—from between the new altar and the temple of the Lord—and put it on the north side of the
new altar.
15 King
Ahaz then gave these orders to Uriah the priest: “On the large new altar, offer
the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt
offering and his grain offering, and the burnt offering of all the people of
the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. Splash against
this altar the blood of all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use
the bronze altar for seeking guidance.” 16 And Uriah the priest
did just as King Ahaz had ordered.
17 King
Ahaz cut off the side panels and removed the basins from the movable stands. He
removed the Sea from the bronze bulls that supported it and set it on a stone
base. 18 He took away the Sabbath canopy[b] that had
been built at the temple and removed the royal entryway outside the temple of
the Lord, in deference to the king
of Assyria.
19 As
for the other events of the reign of Ahaz, and what he did, are they not
written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 20 Ahaz
rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. And
Hezekiah his son succeeded him as king.
