MRK 7
7
The Traditions of the Elders
Matt. 15:1-20
1 The Pharisees and some of the scribes who were experts in the Law gathered together around Jesus in opposition to Him, having come all the way from Jerusalem specifically to confront Him.
2 They observed that some of His disciples were eating their bread with hands that were ceremonially defiled—that is, unwashed according to the ritual traditions handed down through generations.
3 Mark explains for his Gentile readers: The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands with a specific ritual washing, carefully adhering to the traditions of the elders that have been passed down through oral teaching.
4 When they come home from the marketplace where they might have touched Gentiles or unclean things, they do not eat unless they perform ceremonial washings. There are many other traditions that they have received and strictly observed, including elaborate rituals for washing cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and even dining couches.
5 The Pharisees and scribes questioned Jesus, saying, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders that we all follow, but instead eat their bread with ceremonially defiled hands?"
6 Jesus responded to them, "Isaiah prophesied accurately and rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written in Scripture:
'This people honours Me with their lips in outward profession and religious talk,
but their heart is distant and far away from Me in true devotion and love.
7 They worship Me to no purpose, accomplishing nothing, because they teach as divine doctrines the mere precepts and commandments of men.'"*
8 Jesus continued, "You are leaving aside the commandment of God that truly matters, while you cling tightly to the tradition of men that has no divine authority."
9 He was also saying to them, "You expertly and cleverly nullify the commandment of God in order to preserve your own tradition.
10 For Moses, speaking for God, said, 'Honour your father and your mother,'* and also said, 'The one who speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.'*
11 But you say and teach, 'If a man says to his father or to his mother, "Whatever financial help you might have received from me to support you in your old age is Corban"'—that is, a gift that has been consecrated and dedicated to God—
12 then you no longer permit or allow him to do anything to help his father or his mother financially.
13 Thus you are invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down through the generations. And you do many other things like this, systematically placing your traditions above God's clear commands."
14 Jesus called the crowd to Himself again and began to say to them, "Listen to Me carefully, everyone, and understand this truth:
15 There is nothing outside the man—no food or drink—that is able to defile him spiritually by going into him. Rather, it is the things that come out of the man from his heart that defile the man and make him unclean before God."*
17 When Jesus had left the crowd and went into the house away from the public, His disciples began to ask Him privately about the meaning of the parable He had just spoken.
18 Jesus said to them with some exasperation, "So are you also without understanding like the crowds? Do you not comprehend that whatever goes into the man from outside is not able to defile him spiritually,
19 because it does not enter into his heart where moral character resides, but into his stomach, and then passes out into the latrine?" By this statement, Mark explains, Jesus was declaring all foods ceremonially clean—abolishing the Old Testament dietary restrictions.
20 Jesus continued His teaching, saying, "What comes out of the man from within—that is what defiles the man and makes him unclean.
21 For from within, from the heart of men, come the evil thoughts that lead to sinful actions: sexual immoralities of all kinds, thefts, murders,
22 adulteries, acts of greed and covetousness, acts of wickedness and malice, deceit and deception, licentiousness and sensuality, envy towards others, slander against others, arrogance and pride, foolishness and moral stupidity.
23 All these evil things come from within the heart, and they are what defile the man and make him unclean before God."
The Faith of the Syrophoenician Woman
Matt. 15:21-28
24 From there Jesus got up and travelled away to the region of Tyre in Gentile territory. When He entered a house, He desired that no one should know of His presence there, seeking rest and privacy. Yet He was not able to escape notice.
25 But immediately, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit possessing her heard about Jesus being there. She came and fell down at His feet in desperate pleading.
26 Now this woman was a Greek by culture, a Syrophoenician by birth and ethnicity—a Gentile with no claim on the Jewish Messiah. She kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
27 Jesus was testing her faith, saying to her, "Let the children be satisfied first with the bread. It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."
28 But she responded to Him with remarkable faith and humility, saying, "Yes, Lord, that is true. Yet even the household dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs that fall."
29 Jesus said to her with commendation, "Because of this utterance and the faith it demonstrates, go your way. The demon has gone out of your daughter."
30 When she went away to her home, she found her child lying peacefully on the bed, with the demon having departed completely.
The Healing of a Deaf and Mute Man
31 Jesus then departed from the region of Tyre and travelled through Sidon, then came to the Sea of Galilee, passing through the midst of the region of the Decapolis—the ten Greek cities.
32 People brought to Him a man who was deaf and had great difficulty speaking clearly. They were begging Jesus earnestly that He would lay His hand on the man for healing.
33 Jesus took him away from the crowd in private, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched the man's tongue with the moisture.
34 Looking up to heaven in prayer to the Father, Jesus sighed deeply with compassion and said to him in Aramaic, "Ephphatha!"—which is translated, "Be opened!"
35 Immediately the man's ears were opened and the impediment that had bound his tongue was removed completely. He began to speak accurately and clearly, with perfect speech.
36 Jesus strictly charged the people who witnessed this that they should tell no one about the miracle. But the more He strictly charged them to silence, the more extensively and abundantly they persisted in proclaiming it everywhere.
37 The people were struck with amazement beyond all measure, saying, "He has done everything well and perfectly! He even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak!"
Notes
7 Quoted from Is. 29:13
10 Quoted from Ez. 20:12
10 Quoted from Ez. 21:17
15 Some ancient manuscripts include a verse 16 containing the exhortation: " If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."
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Copyright © 2026 Michael Adeyemi Adegbola. This Scripture text is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).
