“Do you not yet realize that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then is eliminated?
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t you understand that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the belly, and then out of the body?
- KJV Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
- NKJV Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated?
- NASB Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated?
- NLT “Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus explains that food simply passes through the body and is eliminated. It matters because it shows that physical eating cannot touch a person's moral condition.
Overview
Jesus argues from the obvious: food goes into the stomach and out of the body, never reaching the heart. Therefore ceremonial concerns about unwashed hands cannot determine true defilement. This grounds his teaching in plain observation, making the spiritual point unmistakable. The real issue lies elsewhere—in the heart, as the next verses make clear.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Luke 6:45The good man brings good things out of the good treasure of his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil treasure of his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.
- 1 Cor 6:13“Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,” but God will destroy them both. The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
- Matt 7:19–20Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
- Col 2:21–22“Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”?
- Jas 3:6The tongue also is a fire, a world of wickedness among the parts of the body. It pollutes the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
- 2 Kgs 10:27They also demolished the sacred pillar of Baal. Then they tore down the temple of Baal and made it into a latrine, which it is to this day.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 15:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.