18. He said, “Do you still have trouble understanding? Surely you know that nothing that enters the mouth from the outside can make people unacceptable to God.
19. Food does not go into a person’s mind. It goes into the stomach. Then it goes out of the body.” (When Jesus said this, he meant there is no food that is wrong for people to eat.)
20. And Jesus said, “The things that make people wrong are the things that come from the inside.
21. All these bad things begin inside a person, in the mind: bad thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder,
22. adultery, greed, doing bad things to people, lying, doing things that are morally wrong, jealousy, insulting people, proud talking, and foolish living.
23. These evil things come from inside a person. And these are the things that make people unacceptable to God.”
24. Jesus went from there to the area around Tyre. He did not want the people in that area to know he was there, so he went into a house. But he could not stay hidden.
25. A woman heard that he was there. Her little daughter had an evil spirit inside her. So the woman came to Jesus and bowed down near his feet.
26. She was not a Jew. She was born in Phoenicia, an area in Syria. She begged Jesus to force the demon out of her daughter.
27. Jesus told the woman, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs. First let the children eat all they want.”
28. She answered, “That is true, Lord. But the dogs under the table can eat the pieces of food that the children don’t eat.”
29. Then he told her, “That is a very good answer. You may go. The demon has left your daughter.”
30. The woman went home and found her daughter lying on the bed. The demon was gone.
31. Then Jesus left the area around Tyre and went through Sidon. On his way to Lake Galilee he went through the area of the Ten Towns.