Matthew 15:11
New International Version
What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”

New Living Translation
It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth.”

English Standard Version
it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”

Berean Standard Bible
A man is not defiled by what enters his mouth, but by what comes out of it.”

Berean Literal Bible
It is not what is entering into the mouth that defiles the man; but that going forth out of the mouth, this defiles the man."

King James Bible
Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.

New King James Version
Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”

New American Standard Bible
It is not what enters the mouth that defiles the person, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles the person.”

NASB 1995
“It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”

NASB 1977
“Not what enters into the mouth defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”

Legacy Standard Bible
It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”

Amplified Bible
It is not what goes into the mouth of a man that defiles and dishonors him, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles and dishonors him.”

Christian Standard Bible
It’s not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth—this defiles a person.”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
It’s not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”

American Standard Version
Not that which entereth into the mouth defileth the man; but that which proceedeth out of the mouth, this defileth the man.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
“It is not the thing that enters the mouth that defiles a man, but the thing that proceeds from the mouth that defiles a man.”

Contemporary English Version
The food you put into your mouth doesn't make you unclean and unfit to worship God. The bad words that come out of your mouth are what make you unclean."

Douay-Rheims Bible
Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man: but what cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.

English Revised Version
Not that which entereth into the mouth defileth the man; but that which proceedeth out of the mouth, this defileth the man.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
What goes into a person's mouth doesn't make him unclean. It's what comes out of the mouth that makes a person unclean."

Good News Translation
It is not what goes into your mouth that makes you ritually unclean; rather, what comes out of it makes you unclean."

International Standard Version
It is not what goes into the mouth that makes a person unclean. It is what comes out of the mouth that makes a person unclean."

Literal Standard Version
[it is] not that which is coming into the mouth [that] defiles the man, but that which is coming forth from the mouth, this defiles the man.”

Majority Standard Bible
A man is not defiled by what enters his mouth, but by what comes out of it.”

New American Bible
It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles that person; but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one.”

NET Bible
What defiles a person is not what goes into the mouth; it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person."

New Revised Standard Version
it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.”

New Heart English Bible
That which enters into the mouth does not defile the person; but that which proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the person."

Webster's Bible Translation
Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.

Weymouth New Testament
It is not what goes into a man's mouth that defiles him; but it is what comes out of his mouth--*that* defiles a man."

World English Bible
That which enters into the mouth doesn’t defile the man; but that which proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”

Young's Literal Translation
not that which is coming into the mouth doth defile the man, but that which is coming forth from the mouth, this defileth the man.'

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
What Defiles a Man
10Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, “Listen and understand. 11A man is not defiled by what enters his mouth, but by what comes out of it.” 12Then the disciples came to Him and said, “Are You aware that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”…

Cross References
Matthew 15:10
Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, "Listen and understand.

Matthew 15:12
Then the disciples came to Him and said, "Are You aware that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?"

Matthew 15:18
But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a man.

Acts 10:14
"No, Lord!" Peter answered. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean."

Acts 10:15
The voice spoke to him a second time: "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."

1 Timothy 4:3
They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from certain foods that God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

James 3:6
The 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.


Treasury of Scripture

Not that which goes into the mouth defiles a man; but that which comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.

that which goeth.

Mark 7:15
There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.

Luke 11:38-41
And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner…

Acts 10:14,15
But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean…

but.

Matthew 15:18-20
But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man…

Matthew 12:34-37
O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh…

Psalm 10:7
His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.

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Matthew 15
1. Jesus reproves the Scribes and Pharisees
7. for transgressing God's commandments through their own traditions;
10. teaches how that which goes into the mouth does not defile a man.
21. He heals the daughter of the woman of Canaan,
29. and other great multitudes;
32. and with seven loaves and a few small fish feeds four thousand men














(11) Not that which goeth into the mouth.--Up to this time the question had been debated indirectly. The scribes had been convicted of unfitness to speak with authority on moral questions. Now a great broad principle is asserted, which not only cut at the root of Pharisaism, but, in its ultimate tendency. swept away the whole Levitical system of ceremonial purity--the distinction between clean and unclean meats and the like. It went, as the amazement of the disciples showed, far beyond their grasp as yet. Even after the day of Pentecost, Peter still prided himself on the observance of the Law which was thus annulled, and boasted that he had never "eaten anything common or unclean" (Acts 10:14). So slow were even those who had sat at the feet of Jesus to take in the thought that purity was inward and not outward, a spiritual and not a physical quality.

Verse 11. - Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man. The word rendered "defileth" (κοινοῖ) means "renders common," in opposition to ἁγιάζειν, "to separate" for God's use; hence the verb, ethically applied, signifies "to contract guilt." The rabbis taught that certain meats of themselves polluted the soul, made it abominable in God's sight. This was a perversion of the law respecting clean and unclean food. The pollution or guilt arose, not from the nature of the meat, but from the eating of it in contravention of a positive command. It was the disobedience, not the food, which affected the soul. It is remarkable that these distinctions of meats still obtain among half the civilized inhabitants of the world - Buddhists, Hindoos, Mohammedans - and that one of the hardest tasks of Christian missionaries is to make men understand the non-importance of these differences. We do not see that Christ here abrogated the Levitical Law, but he certainly prepared the way for its supersession and transformation. But he made no sudden and violent change in the constituted order of things. Indeed, some distinctions were maintained in apostolical times, as we read in Acts 10:14; Acts 15:20, 29; and it was only gradually, and as circumstances made their observation impossible, that such ceremonial obligations were regarded as obsolete. It is, perhaps, with the view of not shocking inveterate prejudice, that he does not say, "No food whatever defileth," but "That which goeth into the mouth" defileth not, referring especially to the notion above reprehended, that eating with unwashen hands polluted the food taken and the soul of the person who consumed it. Our Lord says nothing of excess, e.g. gluttony and drunkenness, which, of course, has a polluting and deteriorating effect on the moral nature (see Luke 21:34). But that which cometh out of the mouth. In the former sentence the mouth is regarded simply as the instrument for receiving food and preparing it for digestion; in this sentence it is considered as the organ of the heart, that which gives outward expression to inward thoughts and conceptions. Fillion distinguishes them as "la bouche physique, et la bouche morale." Philo has well said, "The mouth is that by which, as Plato puts it, mortal things enter, and whence immortal things issue. For therein pass meat and drink, the perishable food of a perishable body; but from it proceed words, immortal laws of an immortal soul, by which the rational life is directed and governed" ('De Mundi Opif.,' § 40). Defileth a man. Pollutes his soul, not with merely ceremonial defilement, but intrinsically and morally. Of course, our Lord is referring to evil words, etc., as he explains in ver. 19. For the mouth may give utterance to God's praise, words of love, sympathy, edification. But the evil in a man's heart will show itself in his mouth; and the open expression will react on the wicked thought, and make it more substantial, deadly, and operative.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
A
τὸν (ton)
Article - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

man
ἄνθρωπον (anthrōpon)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 444: A man, one of the human race. From aner and ops; man-faced, i.e. A human being.

is not defiled
κοινοῖ (koinoi)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2840: To make unclean, pollute, desecrate, mid: I regard (treat) as unclean. From koinos; to make profane.

by what
τὸ (to)
Article - Nominative Neuter Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

enters
εἰσερχόμενον (eiserchomenon)
Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Nominative Neuter Singular
Strong's 1525: To go in, come in, enter. From eis and erchomai; to enter.

[his]
τὸ (to)
Article - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

mouth,
στόμα (stoma)
Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 4750: The mouth, speech, eloquence in speech, the point of a sword.

but
ἀλλὰ (alla)
Conjunction
Strong's 235: But, except, however. Neuter plural of allos; properly, other things, i.e. contrariwise.

by what
τὸ (to)
Article - Nominative Neuter Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

comes
ἐκπορευόμενον (ekporeuomenon)
Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Nominative Neuter Singular
Strong's 1607: From ek and poreuomai; to depart, be discharged, proceed, project.

out of
ἐκ (ek)
Preposition
Strong's 1537: From out, out from among, from, suggesting from the interior outwards. A primary preposition denoting origin, from, out.

[it].”
στόματος (stomatos)
Noun - Genitive Neuter Singular
Strong's 4750: The mouth, speech, eloquence in speech, the point of a sword.


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NT Gospels: Matthew 15:11 That which enters into the mouth doesn't (Matt. Mat Mt)
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