Mark 7

VIN^{(i) 1} The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus; ² they saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands and forearms, holding to the tradition of the elders. ⁴ When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash themselves. And there are many other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pitchers and copper vessels.) ⁵ So the Pharisees and the scribes asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders? Instead, they eat with unclean hands." ⁶ He told them, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. As it is written, 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. ⁷ They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’ ⁸ You let go of the commandment of God, and hold on to 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, ‘Whoever curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ ¹¹ But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), ¹² then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother, ¹³ making void the word of God by your tradition, which you have handed down. You do many things like this." ¹⁴ Again He called the people to Him and said, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand. ¹⁵ nothing outside a man can defile him by entering him; it is what comes from him that defiles him. ¹⁷ When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. ¹⁸ “Are you still so dull?” He asked. “Do you not understand? Nothing that enters a man from the outside can defile him, ¹⁹ For it does not enter into his heart but into his stomach, and goes out into the latrine"—thus declaring all foods clean. ²⁰ But, said he, what cometh out of a man, that makes a man unclean. ²¹ For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, ²² Greed, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, haughtiness, folly; ²³ All these evil things come from inside, and make the man unclean. ²⁴ Leaving that place, Jesus went into the borders of Tyre. He entered a house and did not wish any one to know it, but he could not escape notice. ²⁵ In fact, as soon as she heard about Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit came and fell at His feet. ²⁶ The woman was a foreigner, a native of Syrian Phoenicia--and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ “First let the children have their fill,” He said. “For it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” ²⁸ “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” ²⁹ Then Jesus told her, “Because of this answer, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.” ³⁰ She went home, and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. ³¹ Then Jesus left the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. ³² Some people brought to him a man who was deaf and almost dumb, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him. ³³ So Jesus took him aside privately, away from the crowd, and put His fingers into the man’s ears. Then He spit and touched the man’s tongue. ³⁴ and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him: Ephphatha, which means, Be opened. ³⁵ Immediately the man’s ears were opened and his tongue was released, and he began to speak plainly. ³⁶ Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more He ordered them, the more widely they proclaimed it. ³⁷ And people were utterly amazed, and said, "How well he has done everything! He even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak!"