Mark 7:1-23

Easy-to-Read Version

God’s Law and Human Traditions^(A)

7 Some Pharisees and some teachers of the law came from Jerusalem and gathered around Jesus. ² They saw that some of his followers ate food with hands that were not clean, meaning that they did not wash their hands in a special way. ³ The Pharisees and all the other Jews never eat before washing their hands in this special way. They do this to follow the traditions they have from their great leaders who lived long ago. ⁴ And when these Jews buy something in the market, they never eat it until they wash it in a special way. They also follow other rules from their people who lived before them. They follow rules like the washing of cups, pitchers, and pots.^[a]

⁵ The Pharisees and teachers of the law said to Jesus, “Your followers don’t follow the traditions we have from our great leaders who lived long ago. They 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 wrote these words from God about you:

⁸ You have stopped following God’s commands, preferring instead the man-made rules you got from others.”

⁹ Then he said, “You show great skill in avoiding the commands of God so that you can follow your own teachings! ¹⁰ Moses said, ‘You must respect your father and mother.’^[b] He also said, ‘Whoever says anything bad to their father or mother must be killed.’^{[c] 11} But you teach that people can say to their 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 people that they do not have to do anything for their father or mother. ¹³ So you are teaching that it is not important to do what God said. You think it is more important to follow those traditions you have, which you pass on to others. And you do many things like that.”

¹⁴ Jesus called the people to him again. He said, “Everyone should listen to me and understand what I am saying. ¹⁵ There is nothing people can put in their mouth that will make them wrong.^[d] People are made wrong by what comes from inside them.” ^16 [e]

¹⁷ Then Jesus left the people and went into the house. The followers asked Jesus about what he had told the people. ¹⁸ He said, “Do you still have trouble understanding? Surely you know that nothing that enters the mouth from the outside can make people unacceptable to God. ¹⁹ Food does not go into a person’s mind. It goes into the stomach. Then it goes out of the body.” (When Jesus said this, he meant there is no food that is wrong for people to eat.)

²⁰ And Jesus said, “The things that make people wrong are the things that come from the inside. ²¹ All these bad things begin inside a person, in the mind: bad thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder, ²² adultery, greed, doing bad things to people, lying, doing things that are morally wrong, jealousy, insulting people, proud talking, and foolish living. ²³ These evil things come from inside a person. And these are the things that make people unacceptable to God.”