Mark Chapter 7 — Tradition and True Purity

¹Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered together to him, having come from Jerusalem.

²Now when they saw some of his disciples eating bread with defiled, that is unwashed, hands, they found fault.

³(For the Pharisees and all the Jews don’t eat unless they wash their hands and forearms, holding to the tradition of the elders.

⁴They don’t eat when they come from the marketplace unless they bathe themselves, and there are many other things which they have received to hold to: washings of cups, pitchers, bronze vessels, and couches.)

⁵The Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why don’t your disciples walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with unwashed hands?”

⁶He answered them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

⁷They worship me in vain,

⁸“For you set aside the commandment of God, and hold tightly to the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and you do many other such things.”

⁹He said to them, “Full well do you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.

¹⁰For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother;’✡Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16 and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’✡Exodus 21:17; Leviticus 20:9

¹¹But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban,” ’ ”*Corban is a Hebrew word for an offering devoted to God. that is to say, given to God,

¹²“then you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or his mother,

¹³making void the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down. You do many things like this.”

¹⁴He called all the multitude to himself and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand.

¹⁵There is nothing from outside of the man that going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man.

¹⁶If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!”†NU omits verse 16.

¹⁷When he had entered into a house away from the multitude, his disciples asked him about the parable.

¹⁸He said to them, “Are you also without understanding? Don’t you perceive that whatever goes into the man from outside can’t defile him,

¹⁹because it doesn’t go into his heart, but into his stomach, then into the latrine, making all foods clean?”‡NU ends Jesus’ direct quote and question after “latrine”, ending the verse with “Thus he declared all foods clean.

²⁰He said, “That which proceeds out of the man, that defiles the man.

²¹For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts,

²²covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness.

²³All these evil things come from within and defile the man.”

²⁴From there he arose and went away into the borders of Tyre and Sidon. He entered into a house and didn’t want anyone to know it, but he couldn’t escape notice.

²⁵For a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, having heard of him, came and fell down at his feet.

²⁶Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by race. She begged him that he would cast the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not appropriate to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

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

²⁹He said to her, “For this saying, go your way. The demon has gone out of your daughter.”

³⁰She went away to her house, and found the child having been laid on the bed, with the demon gone out.

³¹Again he departed from the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and came to the sea of Galilee through the middle of the region of Decapolis.

³²They brought to him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. They begged him to lay his hand on him.

³³He took him aside from the multitude privately and put his fingers into his ears; and he spat and touched his tongue.

³⁴Looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!”

³⁵Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was released, and he spoke clearly.

³⁶He commanded them that they should tell no one, but the more he commanded them, so much the more widely they proclaimed it.

³⁷They were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He makes even the deaf hear and the mute speak!”