Mark 7
7
The Teaching of the Ancestors
(Matthew 15.1-9)
1Some Pharisees and several teachers of the Law of Moses from Jerusalem came and gathered around Jesus. 2They noticed that some of his disciples ate without first washing their hands.#7.2 without first washing their hands: The Jewish people had strict laws about washing their hands before eating, especially if they had been out in public.
3The Pharisees and many others obey the teachings of their ancestors. They always wash their hands in the proper way#7.3 in the proper way: The Greek text has “with the fist,” but the exact meaning is not clear. It could mean “to the wrist” or “to the elbow.” before eating. 4None of them will eat anything they buy in the market until it is washed. They also follow a lot of other teachings, such as washing cups, pitchers, and bowls.#7.4 bowls: Some manuscripts add “and sleeping mats.”
5The Pharisees and teachers asked Jesus, “Why don't your disciples obey what our ancestors taught us to do? Why do they eat without washing their hands?”
6 # Is 29.13 (LXX). Jesus replied:
You are nothing but show-offs! The prophet Isaiah was right when he wrote that God had said,
“All of you praise me
with your words,
but you never really
think about me.
7It is useless for you
to worship me,
when you teach rules
made up by humans.”
8You disobey God's commands in order to obey what humans have taught. 9You are good at rejecting God's commands so that you can follow your own teachings! 10#Ex 20.12; Dt 5.16; Ex 21.17; Lv 20.9. Didn't Moses command you to respect your father and mother? Didn't he tell you to put to death all who curse their parents? 11But you let people get by without helping their parents when they should. You let them say that what they own has been offered to God.#7.11 has been offered to God: According to Jewish custom, when anything was offered to God, it could not be used for anyone else, not even for a person's parents. 12You won't let those people help their parents. 13And you ignore God's commands in order to follow your own teaching. You do a lot of other things just as bad.
What Really Makes People Unclean
(Matthew 15.10-20)
14Jesus called the crowd together again and said, “Pay attention and try to understand what I mean. 15-16The food that you put into your mouth doesn't make you unclean and unfit to worship God. The bad words that come out of your mouth are what make you unclean.”#7.15,16 unclean: Some manuscripts add, “If you have ears, pay attention.”
17After Jesus and his disciples had left the crowd and gone into the house, they asked him what these sayings meant. 18He answered, “Don't you know what I am talking about by now? You surely know that the food you put into your mouth cannot make you unclean. 19It doesn't go into your heart, but into your stomach, and then out of your body.” By saying this, Jesus meant that all foods were fit to eat.
20Then Jesus said:
What comes from your heart is what makes you unclean. 21Out of your heart come evil thoughts, vulgar deeds, stealing, murder, 22unfaithfulness in marriage, greed, meanness, deceit, indecency, envy, insults, pride, and foolishness. 23All of these come from your heart, and they are what make you unfit to worship God.
A Woman's Faith
(Matthew 15.21-28)
24Jesus left and went to the region near the town of Tyre, where he stayed in someone's home. He did not want people to know he was there, but they found out anyway. 25A woman whose daughter had an evil spirit in her heard where Jesus was. And at once she came and knelt down at his feet. 26The woman was Greek and had been born in the part of Syria known as Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to force the demon out of her daughter. 27But Jesus said, “The children must first be fed! It isn't right to take away their food and feed it to dogs.”#7.27 feed it to dogs: Some Jewish people referred to Gentiles as dogs.
28The woman replied, “Lord, even puppies eat the crumbs that children drop from the table.”
29Jesus answered, “That's true! You may go now. The demon has left your daughter.” 30When the woman got back home, she found her child lying on the bed. The demon had gone.
Jesus Heals a Man Who Was Deaf and Could Hardly Talk
31Jesus left the region around Tyre and went by way of Sidon toward Lake Galilee. He went through the land near the ten cities known as Decapolis.#7.31 the ten cities known as Decapolis: See the note at 5.20. 32Some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk. They begged Jesus just to touch him.
33After Jesus had taken him aside from the crowd, he stuck his fingers in the man's ears. Then he spit and put it on the man's tongue. 34Jesus looked up toward heaven, and with a groan he said, “Effatha!”#7.34 Effatha: This word is in Aramaic, a language spoken in Palestine during the time of Jesus. which means “Open up!” 35At once the man could hear, and he had no more trouble talking clearly.
36Jesus told the people not to say anything about what he had done. But the more he told them, the more they talked about it. 37They were completely amazed and said, “Everything he does is good! He even heals people who cannot hear or talk.”
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Mark 7: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Mark 7
7
1 And the Pharisees and some of the scribes, arriving from Jerusalem, gathered together before him.
2 And when they had seen certain ones from his disciples eating bread with common hands, that is, with unwashed hands, they disparaged them.
3 For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat without repeatedly washing their hands, holding to the tradition of the elders.
4 And when returning from the market, unless they wash, they do not eat. And there are many other things which have been handed down to them to observe: the washings of cups, and pitchers, and bronze containers, and beds.
5 And so the Pharisees and the scribes questioned him: "Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but they eat bread with common hands?"
6 But in response, he said to them: "So well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, just as it has been written: 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
7 And in vain do they worship me, teaching the doctrines and precepts of men.'
8 For abandoning the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men, to the washing of pitchers and cups. And you do many other things similar to these."
9 And he said to them: "You effectively nullify the precept of God, so that you may observe your own tradition.
10 For Moses said: 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Whoever will have cursed father or mother, let him die a death.'
11 But you say, 'If a man will have said to his father or mother: Korban, (which is a gift) whatever is from me will be to your benefit,'
12 then you do not release him to do anything for his father or mother,
13 rescinding the word of God through your tradition, which you have handed down. And you do many other similar things in this way."
14 And again, calling the crowd to him, he said to them: "Listen to me, all of you, and understand.
15 There is nothing from outside a man which, by entering into him, is able to defile him. But the things which procede from a man, these are what pollute a man.
16 Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear."
17 And when he had entered into the house, away from the crowd, his disciples questioned him about the parable.
18 And he said to them: "So, are you also without prudence? Do you not understand that everything entering to a man from outside is not able to pollute him?
19 For it does not enter into his heart, but into the gut, and it exits into the sewer, purging all foods."
20 "But," he said "the things which go out from a man, these pollute a man.
21 For from within, from the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22 thefts, avarice, wickedness, deceitfulness, homosexuality, an evil eye, blasphemy, self-exaltation, foolishness.
23 All these evils procede from within and pollute a man."
24 And rising up, he went from there to the area of Tyre and Sidon. And entering into a house, he intended no one to know about it, but he was not able to remain hidden.
25 For a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit, as soon as she heard about him, entered and fell prostrate at his feet.
26 For the woman was a Gentile, by birth a Syro-Phoenician. And she petitioned him, so that he would cast the demon from her daughter.
27 And he said to her: "First allow the sons to have their fill. For it is not good to take away the bread of the sons and throw it to the dogs."
28 But she responded by saying to him: "Certainly, Lord. Yet the young dogs also eat, under the table, from the crumbs of the children."
29 And he said to her, "Because of this saying, go; the demon has gone out of your daughter."
30 And when she had gone to her house, she found the girl lying on the bed; and the demon had gone away.
31 And again, departing from the borders of Tyre, he went by way of Sidon to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the area of the Ten Cities.
32 And they brought someone who was deaf and mute to him. And they begged him, so that he would lay his hand upon him.
33 And taking him away from the crowd, he put his fingers into his ears; and spitting, he touched his tongue.
34 And gazing up to heaven, he groaned and said to him: "Ephphatha," which is, "Be opened."
35 And immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was released, and he spoke correctly.
36 And he instructed them not to tell anyone. But as much as he instructed them, so much more did they preach about it.
37 And so much more did they wonder, saying: "He has done all things well. He has caused both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."
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