Mark 7

7 ¹The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, ²and they saw that some of his disciples were eating bread with unclean hands—that is, unwashed. ³(For the Pharisees and all the Jews don't eat unless they wash their hands ceremonially, keeping the elders' tradition. ⁴When they come from the market, they don't eat without washing. They also hold to many other traditions they've received—washing cups, pitchers, and copper vessels.). ⁵Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, "Why don't your disciples follow the elders' tradition, but eat bread with unclean hands?"

⁶He replied, "Isaiah prophesied truly about you hypocrites, as written: 'These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.' ⁷'They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'

⁸You abandon the commandment of our Father and hold to the tradition of men." ⁹He said to them, "You do a fine job setting aside our Father's commandment to keep your own tradition!" ¹⁰For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'Whoever curses father or mother must be executed.' ¹¹"But you say: if anyone tells his father or mother, 'Whatever you'd have gained from me is Corban' (a gift devoted to our Father), ^a a v11 Corban was a vow dedicating money or property to the temple, putting it beyond use for any other purpose — even caring for one's own parents. ¹²then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. ¹³So you cancel the word of our Father with your handed-down tradition. You do many things like this."

¹⁴He called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵Nothing outside a person entering him can make him unclean; rather, what comes out of a person is what makes him unclean." ^b b v15 The earliest manuscripts do not have a verse 16 here; later copies add: "If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."

¹⁷When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable.

¹⁸He said to them, "Are you also this dull? Don't you understand nothing entering a person from outside can make him unclean, ¹⁹since it doesn't enter his heart but his stomach, and then goes out into the sewer?" (Saying this, he declared all foods clean.). ²⁰He said, "What comes out of a person—that makes him unclean. ²¹For from within, out of the human heart, come evil thoughts—sexual sin, theft, murder, ²²adultery, greed, malice, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. ²³All these evils come from inside and make a person unclean."

A Gentile Woman's Persistent Faith

²⁴Jesus left there for the region of Tyre. He entered a house, wanting no one to know, but couldn't stay hidden. ²⁵Instead, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him at once, came, and fell at his feet. ²⁶The woman was Greek, Syrophoenician by birth. She kept asking him to drive the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷He told her, "Let the children eat first, for it's not right to take their bread and toss it to the dogs."

²⁸But she replied to him, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."

²⁹He said to her, "Because of this answer, go—the demon has left your daughter."

³⁰And she went home and found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Jesus Opens Deaf Ears

³¹Then Jesus left the territory of Tyre, went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the region of the Decapolis. ^c c v31 The Decapolis was a region of ten Greek cities east and south of the Sea of Galilee. ³²They brought him a deaf man who could hardly speak, begging him to lay his hand on him. ³³Jesus took him aside privately, away from the crowd, put his fingers in the man's ears, spit, and touched his tongue.

³⁴Then, looking up to heaven, he sighed deeply and said to him, "Ephphatha!" (that is, "Be opened!").

³⁵And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he began to speak plainly. ³⁶Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered, the more they proclaimed it. ³⁷They were completely amazed: "He has done everything well—he makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."