Other laws had been perverted by the rabbis in like manner. In the directions given through Moses it was forbidden to eat any unclean thing. The use of swine's flesh, and the flesh of certain other animals, was prohibited, as likely to fill the blood with impurities, and to shorten life. But the Pharisees did not leave these restrictions as God had given them. They went to unwarranted extremes. Among other things the people were required to strain all the water used, lest it should contain the smallest insect, which might be classed with the unclean animals. Jesus, contrasting these trivial exactions with the magnitude of their actual sins, said to the Pharisees, "Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel."

Andre love havde rabbinerne forvansket på samme måde. I de forordninger, Moses havde givet, var det forbudt at spise noget urent. Det var forbudt at spise svinekød og kødet af visse andre dyr, da det var sandsynligt, at det kunne fylde blodet med urenheder og således forkorte livet. Men farisæerne nøjedes ikke med de begrænsninger, som Gud havde sat for dem. De drev det til ganske ubeføjede yderligheder. Blandt andet krævedes det, at folk skulle si alt det vand, der blev brugt, for at det ikke skulle indeholde det mindste insekt, som kunne sidestilles med urene dyr. Jesus fremstillede udøvelsen af disse ligegyldige krav i modsætning til, hvor store deres virkelige syn der var, og sagde til farisæerne: "I blinde vejledere, I, som sier myggen af, men sluger kamelen."