Mark 7  Revised Standard Version

The Tradition of the Elders

7 Now when the Pharisees gathered together to him, with some of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, ² they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands defiled, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands,^[a] observing the tradition of the elders; ⁴ and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they purify^[b] themselves;^[c] and there are many other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pots and vessels of bronze.^[d]) ⁵ And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live^[e] according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?” ⁶ And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

⁸ You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.”

⁹ And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition! ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die’; ¹¹ but you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is Corban’ (that is, given to God)^[f]— ¹² then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, ¹³ thus making void the word of God through your tradition which you hand on. And many such things you do.”

¹⁴ And he called the people to him again, and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵ there is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him; but the things which come out of a man are what defile him.”^{[g] 17} And when he had entered the house, and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. ¹⁸ And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a man from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ since it enters, not his heart but his stomach, and so passes on?”^[h] (Thus he declared all foods clean.) ²⁰ And he said, “What comes out of a man is what defiles a man. ²¹ For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, ²² coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. ²³ All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man.”

The Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith

²⁴ And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon.^[i] And he entered a house, and would not have any one know it; yet he could not be hid. ²⁵ But immediately a woman, whose little daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell down at his feet. ²⁶ Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoeni′cian by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ And he said to her, “Let the children first be fed, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁸ But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” ²⁹ And he said to her, “For this saying you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” ³⁰ And she went home, and found the child lying in bed, and the demon gone.

Jesus Cures a Deaf Man

³¹ Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of the Decap′olis. ³² And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech; and they besought him to lay his hand upon him. ³³ And taking him aside from the multitude privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue; ³⁴ and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him, “Eph′phatha,” that is, “Be opened.” ³⁵ And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. ³⁶ And he charged them to tell no one; but the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. ³⁷ And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well; he even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.”