₁₀Then Jesus called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand! ₁₁It is not what goes into a person's mouth that makes him ritually unclean; rather, what comes out of it makes him unclean.”

₁₂Then the disciples came to him and said, “Do you know that the Pharisees had their feelings hurt by what you said?”

₁₃“Every plant which my Father in heaven did not plant will be pulled up,” answered Jesus. ₁₄“Don't worry about them! They are blind leaders of the blind; and when one blind man leads another, both fall into a ditch.”

₁₅Peter spoke up, “Explain this saying to us.”

₁₆Jesus said to them, “You are still no more intelligent than the others. ₁₇Don't you understand? Anything that goes into a person's mouth goes into his stomach and then on out of his body. ₁₈But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these are the things that make a person ritually unclean. ₁₉For from his heart come the evil ideas which lead him to kill, commit adultery, and do other immoral things; to rob, lie, and slander others. ₂₀These are the things that make a person unclean. But to eat without washing your hands as they say you should — this doesn't make a person unclean.”

₂₁Jesus left that place and went off to the territory near the cities of Tyre and Sidon. ₂₂A Canaanite woman who lived in that region came to him. “Son of David!” she cried out. “Have mercy on me, sir! My daughter has a demon and is in a terrible condition.”

₂₃But Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples came to him and begged him, “Send her away! She is following us and making all this noise!”

₂₄Then Jesus replied, “I have been sent only to the lost sheep of the people of Israel.”

₂₅At this the woman came and fell at his feet. “Help me, sir!” she said.

₂₆Jesus answered, “It isn't right to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs.”

₂₇“That's true, sir,” she answered; “but even the dogs eat the leftovers that fall from their masters' table.”

₂₈So Jesus answered her, “You are a woman of great faith! What you want will be done for you.” And at that very moment her daughter was healed.