7 Some from the Farisaios party and some of the law teachers had come from Yerushalem (Jerusalem) to observe Yeshua (Jesus; Grk. Yesus) 2 and noticed that some of his followers were eating their food without following their religious customs, i.e., without washing their hands. 3 (The Farisaios and, in fact, all the Jewish religious leaders don’t eat without first ceremonially washing their hands as taught by their elders over the generations. 4 They won’t eat at the market if they can’t do that first, and have many other regulations about ceremonial washing of cups and jugs and copper containers.)

5 Then the Farisaios and religious teachers asked Yeshua, “How come your followers don’t respect our Jewish traditions, but eat without the ceremonial washing of hands?”

6 “Yeshayah (Isaiah) got it exactly right,” he answered, “when he expressed God’s thoughts about you hypocrites and wrote:

‘These people honour me with their lips,

but their real desires are far away from me.

7 Their worship of me is worthless—

teaching man-made rules as if they are from God.’[ref]

8 You’ve ignored God’s commands instead accepting human traditions.

9 “You all simply dismiss God’s commands in favour of your own customs, Yeshua (Jesus; Grk. Yesus) continued. 10 Mosheh (Moses) teaches us,

‘Honour your parents,’[ref]

and

‘Anyone dishonestly slandering their parents deserves the death penalty.’[ref]

11 But when you all encourage people to say, ‘Whatever I had that may have helped you guys has been given to God’, 12 you are actively discouraging them from helping their parents— 13 overriding God’s message with your very convenient teaching that you disseminate instead. And that’s not the only example!”

15 Then some people from the Farisaios’ party and some religious teachers from Yerushalem (Jerusalem) arrived and asked Yeshua (Jesus; Grk. Yesus), 2 “Why do your apprentices break the traditions handed down by our elders? They don’t do the hand-washing ceremony before eating.”

3 “Well why do you break God’s command because of your tradition?” Yeshua responded. 4 “God told us to honour our fathers and mothers,[ref] and also that anyone who speaks evil about their father or mother deserves the death penalty.[ref] 5 But if someone tells their father or mother that whatever help they may have expected from them is now given away as a gift, then you people say 6 that they’re not actually dishonouring their parents. So by saying that, you’re overriding God’s message with your own tradition. 7 You hypocrites! The prophet Yeshayah (Isaiah) was right about you people when he wrote:

8 ‘These people honour me with their lips,

But their hearts are far away from me.

9 Their worship of me is useless,

They teach human ideas as if they’re commands.’ ”[ref]