Mark 7:1-8:21

Expanded Bible

The Things that Truly Please God^(A)

7 When some Pharisees and some ·teachers of the law [scribes] came from Jerusalem, they gathered around Jesus. ² They saw that some of Jesus’ ·followers [disciples] ate food with hands that were not clean, that is, they hadn’t [ceremonially] washed them. ³ ([For] The Pharisees and all the Jews never eat before washing their hands ·in the way required [^Lwith a fist; ^Cthe meaning of the idiom is uncertain; it could mean “with a handful of water,” “with cupped hand,” “up to the wrist” or something else] by ·their unwritten laws [^Lthe traditions of the elders]. ⁴ ·And when they buy something in the market, they never eat it [or, And when they come from the market (where they might have touched something “unclean”), they do not eat] until they wash themselves in a special way. They also ·follow [hold fast to; observe] many other ·unwritten laws [traditions], such as the washing of cups, pitchers, and pots.^[a])

⁵ The Pharisees and the ·teachers of the law [scribes] asked Jesus, “Why don’t your ·followers [disciples] ·obey [walk according to] the ·unwritten laws which have been handed down to us [traditions of the elders]? Why do they eat their food with hands that are ·not clean [defiled]?”

⁶ Jesus answered, “Isaiah was right when he ·spoke [prophesied] about you hypocrites. ·He wrote [As it is written],

⁸ You ·have stopped following [neglected; abandoned] the commands of God, and you ·follow [hold on to] only human ·teachings^[b] [traditions].”

⁹ Then Jesus said to them, “You ·cleverly ignore [are very good at ignoring/despising] the commands of God so you can follow your own ·teachings [tradition]. ¹⁰ [For] Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’ [Ex. 20:12; Deut. 5:16], and ‘Anyone who ·says cruel things to [speaks evil of; curses] his father or mother must be put to death’ [Ex. 21:17; Lev. 20:9]. ¹¹ But you say a person can tell his father or mother, ‘I have something I could use to help you, but it is Corban—a gift to God.’ [^CCorban is a Hebrew term meaning dedicated or set aside to God.] ¹² You no longer let that person ·use that money [do anything] for his father or his mother. ¹³ By your own ·rules [tradition], which you ·teach people [have handed down], you are ·rejecting [nullifying; canceling] what God said. And you do many things like that.”

¹⁴ After Jesus called the crowd to him again, he said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand what I am saying. ¹⁵ There is nothing people put into their bodies that ·makes them unclean [pollutes/defiles them]. [But rather] People are ·made unclean [polluted; defiled] by the things that come out of them. |¹⁶ ·Let those with ears use them and listen [see 4:23].|”^[c]

¹⁷ When Jesus left the ·people [crowd] and went into the house, his ·followers [disciples] asked him about this ·story [parable; see 3:23]. ¹⁸ Jesus said, “·Do you still not understand [Are you so dull]? ·Surely you know [^LDon’t you know…?] that nothing that enters someone from the outside can make that person ·unclean [polluted; defiled]. ¹⁹ [Because] It does not go into the ·mind [heart], but into the stomach. Then it goes ·out of the body [^Linto the sewer/latrine].” ·(When Jesus said this, he meant that no longer was any food unclean for people to eat.) [or, (In this way, Jesus cleansed all food.)]

²⁰ And Jesus said, “The things that come out of people are the things that make them ·unclean [defiled]. ²¹ ·All these evil things begin inside people, in the mind [^LFor from within, out of human hearts, come]: evil ·thoughts [intentions; ideas], sexual sins, stealing, murder, adultery, ²² greed, ·evil actions [wickedness], ·lying [deceit], ·doing sinful things [indecency; lust; lewdness], ·jealousy [envy; ^Levil eye], ·speaking evil of others [slander; blasphemy], pride, and foolish living. ²³ All these evil things come from inside and make people ·unclean [defiled].”

Jesus Helps a Gentile Woman^(B)

²⁴ Jesus left that place and went to the area around Tyre^[d] [^Ca Gentile city on the coast north of Israel]. When he went into a house, he did not want anyone to know he was there, but he could not stay hidden. ²⁵ A woman whose daughter had an ·evil [defiling; ^Lunclean] spirit in her heard that he was there. So she ·quickly [immediately] came to Jesus and ·fell [bowed] at his feet. ²⁶ She was ·Greek [a Gentile; ^C“Greek” is sometimes used for any non-Jew; Rom. 1:16], born in Phoenicia, in Syria. She ·begged [kept asking] Jesus to ·force [drive; cast] the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷ Jesus told the woman, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and ·give [throw] it to the dogs. First let the children eat all they want.” [^C“Children” refers to Israel; “dogs” to the Gentiles.]

²⁸ But she answered, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table can eat the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹ Then Jesus said, “Because of your answer, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.”

³⁰ The woman went home and found her daughter lying in bed; the demon was gone.

Jesus Heals a Deaf Man^(C)

³¹ Then Jesus left the area around Tyre and went through Sidon to Lake Galilee [^Tthe Sea of Galilee], to the area of ·the Ten Towns [or Decapolis; ^Can area east of Lake Galilee that once had ten main towns; 5:20]. ³² While he was there, some people brought a man to him who was deaf and ·could not talk plainly [had a speech impediment]. The people begged Jesus to put his hand on the man to heal him.

³³ Jesus led the man away from the crowd, by himself. He put his fingers in the man’s ears and then spit and touched the man’s tongue. [^CThe use of saliva is mentioned in other ancient accounts of healing, and elsewhere in the Gospels; see 8:23; John 9:6.] ³⁴ Looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to the man, “Ephphatha!” (This means [^Cin Aramaic], “Be opened.”) ³⁵ Instantly the man was able to hear and to use his tongue so that he spoke clearly.

³⁶ Jesus ·commanded [ordered; instructed] the people not to tell anyone about what happened. But the more he ·commanded [ordered; instructed] them, the more they ·told about [proclaimed] it. ³⁷ They were completely amazed and said, “Jesus does everything well. He makes the deaf hear! And ·those who can’t talk [the mute] he makes able to speak.”

More than Four Thousand People Fed^(D)

8 ·Another time [About this time] there was ·a [another] great crowd with Jesus that had nothing to eat. So Jesus called his ·followers [disciples] and said, ² “I ·feel sorry [have compassion] for these people, because they have already been with me for three days, and they have nothing to eat. ³ If I send them home hungry, they will ·faint [collapse] on the way. Some of them ·live a long way from here [have come from far away].”

⁴ Jesus’ ·followers [disciples] answered, “·How [^LFrom where] can ·we [^Lanyone] get enough bread in this ·remote place [desolate place; desert] to feed them?”

⁵ Jesus asked, “How many loaves of bread do you have?”

They answered, “Seven.”

⁶ Jesus told the people to ·sit [recline] on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, gave thanks to God, and ·divided [broke] the bread. He gave the pieces to his ·followers [disciples] to give to the people, and they did so. ⁷ ·The followers [^LThey] also had a few small fish. After Jesus ·gave thanks for [blessed] the fish, he told his ·followers [disciples] to give them to the people also. ⁸ All the people ate and were satisfied. Then ·his followers [^Lthey] filled seven ·baskets [large baskets; ^Ca different word than in the feeding of the 5,000; 6:43] with the leftover pieces of food. ⁹ There were about four thousand people who ate. After they had eaten, Jesus ·sent them home [dismissed them]. ¹⁰ Then ·right away [immediately] he got into a boat with his ·followers [disciples] and went to the area of Dalmanutha. [^CThis place is unknown; it was probably on the western shore of Lake Galilee.]

The Leaders Ask for a Miracle^(E)

¹¹ The Pharisees came to Jesus and began to ·ask him questions [argue/dispute with him]. ·Hoping to trap [Trying to test] him, they asked Jesus for a ·miracle [sign] from ·God [^Lheaven; ^Cpossibly a sign in the sky, but more likely a Jewish way of saying “from God”]. ¹² Jesus ·sighed [groaned] deeply and said, “Why ·do you people [^Ldoes this generation] ask for a miracle as a sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to ·you [this generation].” ¹³ Then Jesus left the Pharisees and went in the boat to the other side of the lake.

Guard Against Wrong Teachings^(F)

¹⁴ His ·followers [disciples] had only one loaf of bread with them in the boat; they had forgotten to bring more. ¹⁵ Jesus warned them, “·Be careful [Watch out]! Beware of the ·yeast [leaven] of the Pharisees and the ·yeast [leaven] of Herod [^Cyeast or leaven refers here to the dangerous permeating power of their influence].”

¹⁶ They discussed the meaning of this, saying, “He said this because we have no bread.”

¹⁷ Knowing what they were talking about, Jesus asked them, “Why are you ·talking [discussing; arguing] about not having bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your ·minds closed [hearts hardened]? ¹⁸ ·You have eyes, but you don’t really see. You have ears, but you don’t really listen [Jer. 5:21; Ezek. 12:2]. ·Remember [^LDon’t you remember] when ¹⁹ I ·divided [broke] five loaves of bread for the five thousand? How many baskets did you fill with leftover pieces of food?”

They answered, “Twelve.”

²⁰ “And when I ·divided [broke] seven loaves of bread for the four thousand, how many [large] baskets did you fill with leftover pieces of food?”

They answered, “Seven.”

²¹ Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand yet?”