Mark 7
7
Jesus Challenges the Pharisees’ Traditions
(Matthew 15:1–20)
1The Pharisees and some experts in Moses’ Teachings who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus. 2They saw that some of his disciples were unclean #7:2 “Unclean” refers to anything that Moses’ Teachings say is not presentable to God. because they ate without washing their hands.
3(The Pharisees, like all other Jewish people, don’t eat unless they have properly washed their hands. They follow the traditions of their ancestors. 4When they come from the marketplace, they don’t eat unless they have washed first. They have been taught to follow many other rules. For example, they must also wash their cups, jars, brass pots, and dinner tables.#7:4 Some manuscripts and translations omit “and dinner tables.”)
5The Pharisees and the experts in Moses’ Teachings asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples follow the traditions taught by our ancestors? They are unclean because they don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
6Jesus told them, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites in Scripture:
‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
7Their worship of me is pointless,
because their teachings are rules made by humans.’
8“You abandon the commandments of God to follow human traditions.” 9He added, “You have no trouble rejecting the commandments of God in order to keep your own traditions! 10For example, Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’ and ‘Whoever curses father or mother must be put to death.’ 11But you say, ‘If a person tells his father or mother that whatever he might have used to help them is corban (that is, an offering to God), 12he no longer has to do anything for his father or mother.’ 13Because of your traditions you have destroyed the authority of God’s word. And you do many other things like that.”
14Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and try to understand! 15Nothing that goes into a person from the outside can make him unclean. It’s what comes out of a person that makes him unclean. 16Let the person who has ears listen!” #7:16 Some manuscripts and translations omit this verse.
17When he had left the people and gone home, his disciples asked him about this illustration.
18Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand? Don’t you know that whatever goes into a person from the outside can’t make him unclean? 19It doesn’t go into his thoughts but into his stomach and then into a toilet.” (By saying this, Jesus declared all foods acceptable.) 20He continued, “It’s what comes out of a person that makes him unclean. 21Evil thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder, 22adultery, greed, wickedness, cheating, shameless lust, envy, cursing, arrogance, and foolishness come from within a person. 23All these evils come from within and make a person unclean.”
The Faith of a Greek Woman
(Matthew 15:21–31)
24Jesus left that place and went to the territory of Tyre. He didn’t want anyone to know that he was staying in a house there. However, it couldn’t be kept a secret.
25A woman whose little daughter had an evil spirit heard about Jesus. She went to him and bowed down. 26The woman happened to be Greek, born in Phoenicia in Syria. She asked him to force the demon out of her daughter.
27Jesus said to her, “First, let the children eat all they want. It’s not right to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”
28She answered him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat some of the children’s scraps.”
29Jesus said to her, “Because you have said this, go! The demon has left your daughter.”
30The woman went home and found the little child lying on her bed, and the demon was gone.
Jesus Cures a Deaf Man
31Jesus then left the neighborhood of Tyre. He went through Sidon and the territory of the Ten Cities #7:31 A federation of ten Greek city states east and west of the Jordan River. to the Sea of Galilee.
32Some people brought to him a man who was deaf and who also had a speech defect. They begged Jesus to lay his hand on him. 33Jesus took him away from the crowd to be alone with him. He put his fingers into the man’s ears, and after spitting, he touched the man’s tongue. 34Then he looked up to heaven, sighed, and said to the man, “Ephphatha!” which means, “Be opened!” 35At once the man could hear and talk normally.
36Jesus ordered the people not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them, the more they spread the news. 37Jesus completely amazed the people. They said, “He has done everything well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute talk.”
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission 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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