The Good News According to Mark, Chapter 7
{7:1} Then the Pharisees, and some of the scribes gathered together
to him, having come from Jerusalem. {7:2} Now when they saw some of
his disciples eating bread with defiled, that is, unwashed, hands,
they found fault. {7:3} (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, don't
eat unless they wash their hands and forearms, holding to the
tradition of the elders. {7:4} They don't eat when they come from the
marketplace, unless they bathe themselves, and there are many other
things, which they have received to hold to: washings of cups,
pitchers, bronze vessels, and couches.) {7:5} The Pharisees and the
scribes asked him, "Why don't your disciples walk according to the
tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with unwashed hands?"
{7:6} He answered them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites,
as it is written,
'This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me.
{7:7} But in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'[1]
{7:8} "For you set aside the commandment of God, and hold tightly to
the tradition of men--the washing of pitchers and cups, and you do
many other such things." {7:9} He said to them, "Full well do you
reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.
{7:10} For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother;'[2] and,
'He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.'[3]
{7:11} But you say, 'If a man tells his father or his mother,
"Whatever profit you might have received from me is [4>]Corban[<4],
that is to say, given to God;"' {7:12} then you no longer allow him to
do anything for his father or his mother, {7:13} making void the word
of God by your tradition, which you have handed down. You do many
things like this."
{7:14} He called all the multitude to himself, and said to them,
"Hear me, all of you, and understand. {7:15} There is nothing from
outside of the man, that going into him can defile him; but the things
which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man. {7:16} If
anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!"
{7:17} When he had entered into a house away from the multitude, his
disciples asked him about the parable. {7:18} He said to them, "Are
you thus without understanding also? Don't you perceive that whatever
goes into the man from outside can't defile him, {7:19} because it
doesn't go into his heart, but into his stomach, then into the
latrine, thus making all foods clean?" {7:20} He said, "That which
proceeds out of the man, that defiles the man. {7:21} For from within,
out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual
sins, murders, thefts, {7:22} covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful
desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. {7:23} All
these evil things come from within, and defile the man."
{7:24} From there he arose, and went away into the borders of Tyre
and Sidon. He entered into a house, and didn't want anyone to know it,
but he couldn't escape notice. {7:25} For a woman, whose little
daughter had an unclean spirit, having heard of him, came and fell
down at his feet. {7:26} Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician
by race. She begged him that he would cast the demon out of her
daughter. {7:27} But Jesus said to her, "Let the children be filled
first, for it is not appropriate to take the children's bread and
throw it to the dogs."
{7:28} But she answered him, "Yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs under the
table eat the children's crumbs."
{7:29} He said to her, "For this saying, go your way. The demon has
gone out of your daughter."
{7:30} She went away to her house, and found the child having been
laid on the bed, with the demon gone out.
{7:31} Again he departed from the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and
came to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the region of
Decapolis. {7:32} They brought to him one who was deaf and had an
impediment in his speech. They begged him to lay his hand on him.
{7:33} He took him aside from the multitude, privately, and put his
fingers into his ears, and he spat, and touched his tongue. {7:34}
Looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha!" that
is, "Be opened!" {7:35} Immediately his ears were opened, and the
impediment of his tongue was released, and he spoke clearly. {7:36} He
commanded them that they should tell no one, but the more he commanded
them, so much the more widely they proclaimed it. {7:37} They were
astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well. He
makes even the deaf hear, and the mute speak!"
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Footnotes:
[1] {7:7} Isaiah 29:13
[2] {7:10} Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16
[3] {7:10} Exodus 21:17; Leviticus 20:9
[4] {7:11} Corban is a Hebrew word for an offering devoted to God.
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