Bible Verses About Commandments: Of men

"Why is it that your talmidim break the Tradition of the Elders? They don't do n'tilat-yadayim before they eat!"

He answered, "Indeed, why do you break the command of God by your tradition?

For God said, `Honor your father and mother,' and `Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.'

But you say, `If anyone says to his father or mother, "I have promised to give to God what I might have used to help you,"

then he is rid of his duty to honor his father or mother.' Thus by your tradition you make null and void the word of God!

You hypocrites! Yesha`yahu was right when he prophesied about you,

`These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from me.

Their worship of me is useless, because they teach man-made rules as if they were doctrines.'"

Then he called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand this!

What makes a person unclean is not what goes into his mouth; rather, what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him unclean!"

The talmidim came to him and said, "Do you know that the P'rushim were offended by what you said?"

He replied, "Every plant that my Father in heaven has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.

Let them be. They are blind guides. When a blind man guides another blind man, both will fall in a pit."

Kefa said to him, "Explain the parable to us."

So he said, "Don't you under stand even now?

Don't you see that anything that enters the mouth goes into the stomach and passes out into the latrine?

But what comes out of your mouth is actually coming from your heart, and that is what makes a person unclean.

For out of the heart come forth wicked thoughts, murder, adultery and other kinds of sexual immorality, theft, lies, slanders. . . .

These are what really make a person unclean, but eating without doing n'tilat-yadayim does not make a person unclean."

and saw that some of his talmidim ate with ritually unclean hands, that is, without doing n'tilat-yadayim.

(For the P'rushim, and indeed all the Judeans, holding fast to the Tradition of the Elders, do not eat unless they have given their hands a ceremonial washing.

Also, when they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they have rinsed their hands up to the wrist; and they adhere to many other traditions, such as washing cups, pots and bronze vessels.)

The P'rushim and the Torah-teachers asked him, "Why don't your talmidim live in accordance with the Tradition of the Elders, but instead eat with ritually unclean hands?"

Yeshua answered them, "Yesha`yahu was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites -- as it is written, `These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from me.

Their worship of me is useless, because they teach man-made rules as if they were doctrines.'