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
International Children’s Bible
Obey God’s Law Not Men’s
7 Some Pharisees and some teachers of the law came from Jerusalem. They gathered around Jesus. 2 They saw that some of Jesus’ followers ate food with hands that were not clean. (“Not clean” means that they did not wash their hands in the way the Pharisees said people must. 3 The Pharisees and all the Jews never eat before washing their hands in this special way. They do this to follow the teaching given to them by their great people who lived before them. 4 And when the Jews buy something in the market, they never eat it until they wash it in a special way. They also follow other rules of their great people who lived before them. They follow rules about the washing of cups, pitchers, and pots.[a])
5 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law said to Jesus, “Your followers don’t follow the rules given to us by our great people who lived before us. Your followers eat their food with hands that are not clean. Why do they do this?”
6 Jesus answered, “You are all hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he spoke about you. Isaiah wrote,
‘These people show honor to me with words.
But their hearts are far from me.
7 Their worship of me is worthless.
The things they teach are nothing
but human rules they have memorized.’ Isaiah 29:13
8 You have stopped following the commands of God. Now you only follow the teachings of men.”[b]
9 Then Jesus said to them: “You think you are clever! You ignore the commands of God so that you can follow your own teachings! 10 Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother.’[c] Then Moses also said, ‘Anyone who says cruel things to his father or mother must be put to death.’[d] 11 But you teach that a person can say to his father or mother, ‘I have something I could use to help you. But I will not use it for you. I will give it to God.’ 12 You are telling that person that he does not have to do anything for his father or mother. 13 So you are teaching that it is not important to do what God said. You think that it is more important to follow your own rules, which you teach people. And you do many things like that.”
14 Jesus called the people to him again. He said, “Every person should listen to me and understand what I am saying. 15 There is nothing a person puts into his body that makes him unclean. A person is made unclean by the things that come out of him. 16 [Let those with ears use them and listen!]”[e]
17 When Jesus left the people and went inside, his followers asked him about this story. 18 Jesus said, “Do you still have trouble understanding? Surely you know that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him unclean. 19 Food does not go into a person’s mind. Food goes into his stomach. Then that food goes out of his body.” (When Jesus said this, he meant that there is no food that is unclean for people to eat.)
20 And Jesus said, “The things that come out of a man are the things that make him unclean. 21 All these evil things begin inside a person, in the mind: evil thoughts, sexual immorality, stealing, murder, adultery, 22 selfishness, doing bad things to other people, lying, doing sinful things, jealousy, saying bad things about people, pride, and foolish living. 23 All these evil things come from within a person. These things make a person unclean.”
Jesus Helps a Non-Jewish Woman
24 Jesus left that place and went to the area around Tyre.[f] He went into a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. But Jesus could not stay hidden. 25 A woman heard that he was there. Her little daughter had an evil spirit in her. So the woman quickly came to Jesus and fell at his feet. 26 She was not Jewish. She was Greek, born in Phoenicia, 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 Jesus said, “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 in bed. The demon was gone.
Jesus Heals a Deaf Man
31 Then Jesus left the area around Tyre. He went through Sidon to Lake Galilee, to the area of the Ten Towns.[g] 32 While he was there, some people brought a man to him. This man was deaf and could not talk. The people begged Jesus to put his hand on the man to heal him.
33 Jesus led the man away from the crowd, to be alone with him. Jesus put his fingers in the man’s ears. Then Jesus spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34 Jesus looked up to heaven and took a deep breath. He said to the man, “Ephphatha!” (This means, “Be opened.”) 35 When Jesus did this, the man was able to hear. He was also able to use his tongue, and he spoke clearly.
36 Jesus commanded the people not to tell anyone about what happened. But the more he commanded them, the more they told about it. 37 They were really amazed. They said, “Jesus does everything well. He makes the deaf hear! And those who can’t talk—Jesus makes them able to speak.”
Footnotes
- 7:4 pots Some Greek copies continue, “and dining couches.”
- 7:8 teachings of men Some Greek copies continue, “You wash pitchers and jugs and do many other such things.”
- 7:10 ‘Honor . . . mother.’ Quotation from Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16.
- 7:10 ‘Anyone . . . death.’ Quotation from Exodus 21:17.
- 7:16 Let . . . listen. Some Greek copies do not contain the bracketed text.
- 7:24 Tyre Some Greek copies continue, “and Sidon.”
- 7:31 Ten Towns In Greek, called “Decapolis.” It was an area east of Lake Galilee that once had ten main towns.
Legacy Standard Bible Copyright ©2021 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org For Permission to Quote Information visit https://www.LSBible.org.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
