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Mark 7:4-6
New Catholic Bible
Mark 7:4-6
New Catholic Bible
4 And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without first washing. In addition, there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and jugs and bronze kettles and tables.[a]
5 Therefore, the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but eat with unclean hands?” 6 He answered, “How rightly Isaiah prophesied about you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
Footnotes
- Mark 7:4 Moses had prescribed a few ablutions for priests when they prepared for service at the altar (Ex 30:17-21). However, Rabbinic tradition had gone beyond the spirit of this prescription and arbitrarily extended it. Jesus condemns this Pharisaic formalism and censures his opponents who out of love for their traditions had nullified the more important commandments of the Law. His disciples—like the great majority of the common people—paid little attention to these prescriptions of the Pharisees. And tables: found only in some early manucripts.
