Mark 7:14-23

GOD’S WORD Translation

¹⁴ Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and try to understand! ¹⁵ Nothing that goes into a person from the outside can make him unclean. It’s what comes out of a person that makes him unclean. ¹⁶ Let the person who has ears listen!” ^[a]

¹⁷ When he had left the people and gone home, his disciples asked him about this illustration.

¹⁸ Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand? Don’t you know that whatever goes into a person from the outside can’t make him unclean? ¹⁹ It doesn’t go into his thoughts but into his stomach and then into a toilet.” (By saying this, Jesus declared all foods acceptable.) ²⁰ He continued, “It’s what comes out of a person that makes him unclean. ²¹ Evil thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder, ²² adultery, greed, wickedness, cheating, shameless lust, envy, cursing, arrogance, and foolishness come from within a person. ²³ All these evils come from within and make a person unclean.”