²⁵ Now a dispute arose between the disciples of John and a Jew^[a] about ceremonial washings.

³³ Should any of these creatures fall into a clay vessel, everything in it becomes unclean, and the vessel itself you must break.

^2 (A)“Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?^[a] They do not wash [their] hands when they eat a meal.”

^25 [a](A)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be clean.

² they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. ³ (For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands,^[a] keeping the tradition of the elders. ⁴ And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed, the purification of cups and jugs and kettles [and beds].)

³⁸ The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not observe the prescribed washing before the meal.^(A)