Mark 7
7
Jesus Teaches about Inner Purity
1One day some Pharisees and teachers of religious law arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. 2They noticed that some of his disciples failed to follow the Jewish ritual of hand washing before eating. 3(The Jews, especially the Pharisees, do not eat until they have poured water over their cupped hands,#7:3 Greek have washed with the fist. as required by their ancient traditions. 4Similarly, they don’t eat anything from the market until they immerse their hands#7:4a Some manuscripts read sprinkle themselves. in water. This is but one of many traditions they have clung to—such as their ceremonial washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.#7:4b Some manuscripts add and dining couches.)
5So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him, “Why don’t your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony.”
6Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,
‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
7 Their worship is a farce,
for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’ # 7:7 Isa 29:13 (Greek version).
8 For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.”
9Then he said, “You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition. 10For instance, Moses gave you this law from God: ‘Honor your father and mother,’#7:10a Exod 20:12; Deut 5:16. and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’#7:10b Exod 21:17 (Greek version); Lev 20:9 (Greek version). 11But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’#7:11 Greek ‘What I would have given to you is Corban’ (that is, a gift). 12In this way, you let them disregard their needy parents. 13And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others.”
14Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “All of you listen,” he said, “and try to understand. 15It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.#7:15 Some manuscripts add verse 16, Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. Compare 4:9, 23.”
17Then Jesus went into a house to get away from the crowd, and his disciples asked him what he meant by the parable he had just used. 18“Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? 19Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.)
20And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. 21For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”
The Faith of a Gentile Woman
24Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre.#7:24 Some manuscripts add and Sidon. He didn’t want anyone to know which house he was staying in, but he couldn’t keep it a secret. 25Right away a woman who had heard about him came and fell at his feet. Her little girl was possessed by an evil#7:25 Greek unclean. spirit, 26and she begged him to cast out the demon from her daughter.
Since she was a Gentile, born in Syrian Phoenicia, 27Jesus told her, “First I should feed the children—my own family, the Jews.#7:27 Greek Let the children eat first. It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.”
28She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat the scraps from the children’s plates.”
29 “Good answer!” he said. “Now go home, for the demon has left your daughter.” 30And when she arrived home, she found her little girl lying quietly in bed, and the demon was gone.
Jesus Heals a Deaf Man
31Jesus left Tyre and went up to Sidon before going back to the Sea of Galilee and the region of the Ten Towns.#7:31 Greek Decapolis. 32A deaf man with a speech impediment was brought to him, and the people begged Jesus to lay his hands on the man to heal him.
33Jesus led him away from the crowd so they could be alone. He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then, spitting on his own fingers, he touched the man’s tongue. 34Looking up to heaven, he sighed and said, “Ephphatha,” which means, “Be opened!” 35Instantly the man could hear perfectly, and his tongue was freed so he could speak plainly!
36Jesus told the crowd not to tell anyone, but the more he told them not to, the more they spread the news. 37They were completely amazed and said again and again, “Everything he does is wonderful. He even makes the deaf to hear and gives speech to those who cannot speak.”
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Mark 7: NLT
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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S. Mark 7
7
1And there are gathered together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which had come from Jerusalem, 2and had seen that some of his disciples ate their bread with defiled, that is, unwashen, hands. 3For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands diligently, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders: 4and when they come from the marketplace, except they wash themselves, they eat not: and many other things there be, which they have received to hold, washings of cups, and pots, and brasen vessels. 5And the Pharisees and the scribes ask him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with defiled hands? 6And he said unto them, Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, But their heart is far from me. 7But in vain do they worship me, Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men. 8Ye leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men. 9And he said unto them, Full well do ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your tradition. 10For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, He that speaketh evil of father or mother, let him die the death: 11but ye say, If a man shall say to his father or his mother, That wherewith thou mightest have been profited by me is Corban, that is to say, Given to God; 12ye no longer suffer him to do aught for his father or his mother; 13making void the word of God by your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things ye do. 14And he called to him the multitude again, and said unto them, Hear me all of you, and understand: 15there is nothing from without the man, that going into him can defile him: but the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man.#7.15 Many ancient authorities insert ver. 16 If any man hath ears to hear, let him hear. 17And when he was entered into the house from the multitude, his disciples asked of him the parable. 18And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Perceive ye not, that whatsoever from without goeth into the man, it cannot defile him; 19because it goeth not into his heart, but into his belly, and goeth out into the draught? This he said, making all meats clean. 20And he said, That which proceedeth out of the man, that defileth the man. 21For from within, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22covetings, wickednesses, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, railing, pride, foolishness: 23all these evil things proceed from within, and defile the man.
24And from thence he arose, and went away into the borders of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered into a house, and would have no man know it: and he could not be hid. 25But straightway 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. And she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. 27And he said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs. 28But she answered and saith unto him, Yea, Lord: even the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. 29And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. 30And she went away unto her house, and found the child laid upon the bed, and the devil gone out.
31And again he went out from the borders of Tyre, and came through Sidon unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the borders of Decapolis. 32And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to lay his hand upon him. 33And he took him aside from the multitude privately, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat, and touched his tongue; 34and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. 35And his ears were opened, and the bond of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. 36And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it. 37And they were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh even the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.
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historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society