Mark 7

Lexham English Bible

Human Traditions and God’s Commandments

7 And the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered to him. ² And they saw that some of his disciples were eating their^[a] bread with unclean—that is, unwashed—hands. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands ritually,^[b] thus^[c] holding fast to the traditions of the elders. ⁴ And when they come^[d] from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions^[e] which they have received and^[f] hold fast to—for example,^[g] the washing of cups and pitchers and bronze kettles and dining couches.)^{[h] 5} And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their^[i] bread with unclean hands?” ⁶ So he said to them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written,

⁸ Abandoning the commandment of God, you hold fast to the tradition of men.”

⁹ And he said to them, “You splendidly ignore the commandment of God so that you can keep^[l] your tradition. ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’^[m] and, ‘The one who speaks evil of father or mother must certainly die^[n].’^{[o] 11} But you say, ‘If a man says to his^[p] father or to his^[q] mother, “Whatever benefit you would have received^[r] from me is corban”^[s] (that is, a gift to God), ¹² you no longer permit him to do anything for his^[t] father or his^[u] mother, ¹³ thus^[v] making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down, and you do many similar things such as this.”

Defilement from Within

¹⁴ And summoning the crowd again, he said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵ There is nothing outside of a person that is able to defile him by^[w] going into him. But the things that go out of a person are the things that defile a person.”^{[x] 17} And when he entered into the house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable. ¹⁸ And he said to them, “So are you also without understanding? Do you not understand that everything that is outside that goes into a person is not able to defile him? ¹⁹ For it does not enter into his heart but into his^[y] stomach, and goes out into the latrine”—thus^[z] declaring all foods clean. ²⁰ And he said, “What comes out of a person, that defiles a person. ²¹ For from within, from the heart of people, come evil plans, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, ²² adulteries, acts of greed, malicious deeds, deceit, licentiousness, envy,^[aa] abusive speech, pride, foolishness. ²³ All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”

A Syrophoenician Woman’s Great Faith

²⁴ And from there he set out and^[ab] went to the region of Tyre. And when he^[ac] entered into a house, he wanted no one to know, and yet he was not able to escape notice. ²⁵ But immediately a woman whose young daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit, when she^[ad] heard about him, came and^[ae] fell down at his feet, ²⁶ Now the woman was a Greek—a Syrophoenician by nationality—and she was asking him that he would expel the demon from her daughter. ²⁷ And he said to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it^[af] to the dogs!” ²⁸ But she answered and said to him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” ²⁹ And he said to her, “Because of this statement, go! The demon has gone out of your daughter.” ³⁰ And when she^[ag] went to her home, she found the child lying on the bed and the demon gone.

A Man Deaf and Unable to Speak Healed

³¹ And again he went away from the region of Tyre and^[ah] came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis. ³² And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had difficulty speaking, and they were imploring him that he would place his^[ai] hand on him. ³³ And he took him away from the crowd by himself and^[aj] put his fingers into his ears, and after^[ak] spitting, he touched his tongue. ³⁴ And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”). ³⁵ And^[al] his ears were opened and his difficulty in speaking was removed^[am] and he began to speak normally. ³⁶ And he ordered them that they should say nothing, but as much as he ordered them not to, they proclaimed it^[an] even more instead. ³⁷ And they were amazed beyond all measure, saying, “He has done all things well! He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”