Mark 7
Legacy Standard Bible
God’s Commandments, Man’s Traditions
7 (A)And the Pharisees and some of the scribes *gathered around Him when they had come (B)from Jerusalem, 2 and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with (C)defiled hands, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they [a]carefully wash their hands, thus observing the (D)tradition of the elders; 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they [b]wash themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of (E)cups and pitchers and copper pots.) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes *asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the (F)tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with (G)defiled hands?” 6 And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘(H)This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far away from Me.
7 (I)But in vain do they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commands of men.’
8 Leaving the commandment of God, you hold to the (J)tradition of men.”
9 And He was also saying to them, “You are good at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your (K)tradition. 10 For Moses said, ‘(L)Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘(M)He who speaks evil of father or mother, is to [c]be put to death’; 11 but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever you might benefit from me is (N)Corban (that is to say, [d]given to God),’ 12 you no longer leave him to do anything for his father or his mother; 13 thus invalidating the word of God by your (O)tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”
The Heart of Man
14 And after He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: 15 there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. 16 [e][And if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”]
17 And when He had left the crowd and entered (P)the house, (Q)His disciples were asking Him about the parable. 18 And He *said to them, “Are you lacking understanding in this way as well? Do you not [f]perceive that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, 19 because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and goes to the sewer?” (Thus He declared (R)all foods (S)clean.) 20 And He was saying, “(T)That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, [g](U)envy, slander, [h]pride, and foolishness. 23 All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”
A Gentile Woman’s Faith
24 (V)Now Jesus stood up and went away from there to the region of (W)Tyre[i]. And when He had entered a house, He was wanting no one to know of it; [j]yet He could not escape notice. 25 But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. 26 Now the woman was a [k]Greek, of Syrophoenician descent. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 And He was saying to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not [l]good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered and *said to Him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.” 29 And He said to her, “Because of this [m]answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” 30 And going back to her home, she found the child [n]lying on the bed, the demon having left.
The Deaf Hear, the Mute Speak
31 (X)And again He went out from the region of (Y)Tyre, and came through Sidon to (Z)the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the (AA)Decapolis. 32 And they *brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they *pleaded with Him to (AB)lay His hand on him. 33 (AC)And Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after (AD)spitting, He touched his tongue; 34 and looking up to heaven with a (AE)sigh, He *said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” 35 And his ears were opened, and the [o]impediment of his tongue [p]was removed, and he began speaking plainly. 36 And (AF)He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He was ordering them, the more widely they (AG)continued to proclaim it. 37 And they were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
Footnotes
- Mark 7:3 Lit with the fist
- Mark 7:4 Ceremonial cleansing; lit baptizing
- Mark 7:10 Lit die the death
- Mark 7:11 An offering; or a gift
- Mark 7:16 Early mss omit this v
- Mark 7:18 Or understand; see Matt 15:17, but cf. Mark 8:17
- Mark 7:22 Lit an evil eye
- Mark 7:22 Or arrogance
- Mark 7:24 Two early mss add and Sidon
- Mark 7:24 Lit and
- Mark 7:26 Or Gentile
- Mark 7:27 Or proper
- Mark 7:29 Lit word
- Mark 7:30 Lit thrown
- Mark 7:35 Or bond
- Mark 7:35 Lit was loosed
Mark 7
Evangelical Heritage Version
Commandments and Traditions
7 The Pharisees and some of the experts in the law came from Jerusalem and gathered around Jesus. 2 They saw some of his disciples eating bread with unclean (that is, unwashed) hands. 3 In fact, the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they scrub their hands with a fist,[a] holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash.[b] And there are many other traditions they adhere to, such as the washing[c] of cups, pitchers, kettles, and dining couches.[d] 5 The Pharisees and the experts in the law asked Jesus, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders? Instead they eat bread with unclean hands.”
6 He answered them, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. As it is written:
These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
7 They worship me in vain, teaching human rules as if they
were doctrines.[e]
8 “You abandon God’s commandment but hold to human tradition like the washing of pitchers and cups, and you do many other such things.”[f] 9 He continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside God’s commandment to keep[g] your own tradition. 10 For example, Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’[h] and ‘Whoever speaks evil of his father or mother must be put to death.’[i] 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or mother, “Whatever help you might have received from me is corban”’[j] (which means an offering), 12 then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13 So you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. You do many things like that.”
14 He called the crowd to him again and said, “Everyone, listen to me and understand. 15 There is nothing outside of a man that can make him unclean by going into him. But the things that come out of a man are what make a man unclean. 16 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!”[k]
17 After he had left the crowd and entered a house, his disciples asked him about this illustration. 18 He said, “Are you lacking in understanding too? Do you not understand that whatever goes into a man from the outside cannot make him unclean? 19 For it does not enter his heart but goes into his stomach and goes out of him into the latrine—in this way all foods are purified.”[l]
20 He continued, “What comes out of a man, that is what makes a man unclean. 21 In fact, from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual sins, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, unrestrained immorality, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness. 23 All these evil things proceed from within and make a person unclean.”
The Faith of a Gentile Woman
24 Jesus got up and went from there to the region of Tyre and Sidon. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it, but he could not remain hidden. 25 Instead, when a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him, she immediately came and fell down at his feet. 26 This woman was a Greek, of Syro-Phoenician origin. She asked him to drive the demon out of her daughter.
27 Jesus said to her, “Let the children be fed first, because it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to their little dogs.”
28 “Lord,” she answered, “their little dogs under the table also eat some of the children’s crumbs.”
29 Then he said to her, “Because of this statement, go! The demon has gone out of your daughter.”
30 She went home, found the child lying on the bed and the demon gone.
31 Jesus left the region of Tyre again and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis.
“Ephphatha! Be Opened!”
32 They brought a man to him who was deaf and had a speech impediment. They pleaded with Jesus to place his hand on him. 33 Jesus took him aside in private, away from the crowd. He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34 After he looked up to heaven, he sighed and said, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”) 35 Immediately the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was set free, and he began to speak plainly. 36 Jesus gave the people strict orders to tell no one, but the more he did so, the more they kept proclaiming it. 37 They were amazed beyond measure and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”
Footnotes
- Mark 7:3 Or up to the wrist. This refers to a method of ceremonial washing.
- Mark 7:4 Greek baptizo (translated baptize in other contexts)
- Mark 7:4 Greek baptismos (translated baptism in other contexts)
- Mark 7:4 A few witnesses to the text omit and dining couches.
- Mark 7:7 Isaiah 29:13
- Mark 7:8 A few witnesses to the text omit the last part of verse 8 (like the washing. . .).
- Mark 7:9 Some witnesses to the text read establish.
- Mark 7:10 Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16
- Mark 7:10 Exodus 21:17; Leviticus 20:9
- Mark 7:11 Corban is a Hebrew word for an offering devoted to God.
- Mark 7:16 A few witnesses to the text omit this verse.
- Mark 7:19 Or latrine.” (In this way all foods are purified.) The punctuation in the text indicates Jesus spoke the last sentence of verse 19. The parentheses in this footnote would indicate that the last sentence was an inspired comment by Mark.
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