Matthew 15:20

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

These are the things that defile a person; it is not eating with unwashed hands that defiles a person.”

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Matt 15:2 : 2 “Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat.”
  • Matt 23:25-26 : 25 “Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside may become clean too!
  • Mark 7:3-4 : 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they perform a ritual washing, holding fast to the tradition of the elders. 4 And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. They hold fast to many other traditions: the washing of cups, pots, kettles, and dining couches.)
  • Luke 11:38-40 : 38 The Pharisee was astonished when he saw that Jesus did not first wash his hands before the meal. 39 But the Lord said to him,“Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You fools! Didn’t the one who made the outside make the inside as well?
  • 1 Cor 3:16-17 : 16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 17 If someone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, which is what you are.
  • 1 Cor 6:9-9 : 9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicing homosexuals, 10 thieves, the greedy, drunkards, the verbally abusive, and swindlers will not inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Some of you once lived this way. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
  • 1 Cor 6:18-20 : 18 Flee sexual immorality!“Every sin a person commits is outside of the body”– but the immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.
  • Eph 5:3-6 : 3 But among you there must not be either sexual immorality, impurity of any kind, or greed, as these are not fitting for the saints. 4 Neither should there be vulgar speech, foolish talk, or coarse jesting– all of which are out of character– but rather thanksgiving. 5 For you can be confident of this one thing: that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy(such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Live in the Light Let nobody deceive you with empty words, for because of these things God’s wrath comes on the sons of disobedience.
  • Rev 21:8 : 8 But as for the cowards, unbelievers, detestable persons, murderers, the sexually immoral, and those who practice magic spells, idol worshipers, and all those who lie, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. That is the second death.”
  • Rev 21:27 : 27 but nothing ritually unclean will ever enter into it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or practices falsehood, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Matt 15:9-12
    4 verses
    86%

    9and they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

    10True Defilement Then he called the crowd to him and said,“Listen and understand.

    11What defiles a person is not what goes into the mouth; it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person.”

    12Then the disciples came to him and said,“Do you know that when the Pharisees heard this saying they were offended?”

  • Mark 7:18-21
    4 verses
    84%

    18He said to them,“Are you so foolish? Don’t you understand that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him?

    19For it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and then goes out into the sewer.”(This means all foods are clean.)

    20He said,“What comes out of a person defiles him.

    21For from within, out of the human heart, come evil ideas, sexual immorality, theft, murder,

  • Mark 7:15
    84%

    15There is nothing outside of a person that can defile him by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles him.”

  • Matt 15:17-19
    3 verses
    82%

    17Don’t you understand that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and then passes out into the sewer?

    18But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a person.

    19For out of the heart come evil ideas, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.

  • Matt 15:1-3
    3 verses
    80%

    1Breaking Human Traditions Then Pharisees and experts in the law came from Jerusalem to Jesus and said,

    2“Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat.”

    3He answered them,“And why do you disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition?

  • Mark 7:2-5
    4 verses
    80%

    2And they saw that some of Jesus’ disciples ate their bread with unclean hands, that is, unwashed.

    3(For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they perform a ritual washing, holding fast to the tradition of the elders.

    4And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. They hold fast to many other traditions: the washing of cups, pots, kettles, and dining couches.)

    5The Pharisees and the experts in the law asked him,“Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with unwashed hands?”

  • Mark 7:23
    79%

    23All these evils come from within and defile a person.”

  • Rom 14:20
    76%

    20Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. For although all things are clean, it is wrong to cause anyone to stumble by what you eat.

  • Lev 22:5-6
    2 verses
    74%

    5or a man who touches a swarming thing by which he becomes unclean, or touches a person by which he becomes unclean, whatever that person’s impurity–

    6the person who touches any of these will be unclean until evening and must not eat from the holy offerings unless he has bathed his body in water.

  • Titus 1:15
    73%

    15All is pure to those who are pure. But to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their minds and consciences are corrupted.

  • Mark 7:7-8
    2 verses
    73%

    7They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrine the commandments of men.’

    8Having no regard for the command of God, you hold fast to human tradition.”

  • Luke 11:41
    73%

    41But give from your heart to those in need, and then everything will be clean for you.

  • Matt 23:26
    72%

    26Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside may become clean too!

  • Lev 15:10-11
    2 verses
    72%

    10Anyone who touches anything that was under him will be unclean until evening, and the one who carries those items must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.

    11Anyone whom the man with the discharge touches without having rinsed his hands in water must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.

  • Lev 18:24
    71%

    24Warning against the Abominations of the Nations“‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things, for the nations which I am about to drive out before you have been defiled with all these things.

  • Luke 11:38-39
    2 verses
    71%

    38The Pharisee was astonished when he saw that Jesus did not first wash his hands before the meal.

    39But the Lord said to him,“Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.

  • Lev 5:3
    71%

    3or when he touches human uncleanness with regard to anything by which he can become unclean, even if he did not realize it, but he himself has later come to know it and is guilty;

  • Num 19:20
    71%

    20But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person must be cut off from among the community, because he has polluted the sanctuary of the LORD; the water of purification was not sprinkled on him, so he is unclean.

  • Rom 14:14
    70%

    14I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean in itself; still, it is unclean to the one who considers it unclean.

  • Num 19:22
    70%

    22And whatever the unclean person touches will be unclean, and the person who touches it will be unclean until evening.’”

  • Lev 15:27
    70%

    27and anyone who touches them will be unclean, and he must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.

  • Lev 17:16
    70%

    16But if he does not wash his clothes and does not bathe his body, he will bear his punishment for iniquity.’”

  • Col 2:22
    70%

    22These are all destined to perish with use, founded as they are on human commands and teachings.

  • Luke 16:15
    69%

    15But Jesus said to them,“You are the ones who justify yourselves in men’s eyes, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly prized among men is utterly detestable in God’s sight.

  • Matt 15:21
    69%

    21A Canaanite Woman’s Faith After going out from there, Jesus went to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

  • John 13:10
    69%

    10Jesus replied,“The one who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not every one of you.”

  • Lev 18:27
    69%

    27for the people who were in the land before you have done all these abominations, and the land has become unclean.

  • Lev 15:7
    69%

    7The one who touches the body of the man with a discharge must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.

  • Lev 11:40
    69%

    40One who eats from its carcass must wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening, and whoever carries its carcass must wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening.

  • Deut 14:10
    69%

    10but whatever does not have fins and scales you may not eat; it is ritually impure to you.

  • Lev 7:21
    69%

    21When a person touches anything unclean(whether human uncleanness, or an unclean animal, or an unclean detestable creature) and eats some of the meat of the peace offering sacrifice which belongs to the LORD, that person will be cut off from his people.’”

  • Lev 11:34
    69%

    34Any food that may be eaten which becomes soaked with water will become unclean. Anything drinkable in any such vessel will become unclean.