Mark 7:1-13

NSB(i) 1 The Pharisees and some of the scribes came from Jerusalem to gather around Jesus. 2 They saw that some of his disciples ate their bread with unwashed defiled hands. 3 (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat until they wash their hands. They practice the tradition of the elders.) 4 When they come from the marketplace they wash themselves before they eat. They follow many other rules. They wash their cups, and brass pots, and other vessels. 5 The Pharisees and the scribes asked: »Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders. Instead they eat their bread with defiled hands?« 6 He told them: »Isaiah prophesied about you hypocrites. It is written: ‘This people honor me with their lips but their heart is far from me. 7 ‘They worship me in vain teaching as doctrines the commands of men.’« 8 Speaking to the Pharisees and scribes He said: »You abandon the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men. 9 »You totally reject the commandment of God that you may keep your tradition. 10 »Moses said: ‘Honor your father and your mother. He also said: ‘He that speaks evil of father or mother must die.’ 11 »But you say: ‘If a man says to his father or his mother that which would benefit you is a gift to God, 12 he no longer has to do anything for his father or mother.’ 13 »You make the word of God invalid by your tradition.«