< Mark 7 >
1 Now the Pharisees, and some scribes who came from Jerusalem, resorted to Jesus.
2 And observing some of his disciples eating with impure hands, that is, unwashed hands;
3 (for the Pharisees, and indeed all the Jews who observed the tradition of the elders, eat not until they have have washed their hands by pouring a little water upon them:
4 and if they be come from the market, by dipping them; and many other usages there are, which they have adopted, as immersions of cups and pots, and brazen vessels and beds: )
5 then the Pharisees and Scribes asked him, Whence comes it that your disciples observe not the tradition of the elders, but eat with unwashed hands?
6 He answering, said to them, O hypocrites! well do you suit the character, which Isaiah gave of you, when he said, This people honor me with their lips; but their heart is estranged from me.
7 In vain, however, they worship me, while they teach institutions merely human."
8 For laying aside the commandment of God, you retain the traditions of men, immersions of pots and cups, and many other similar practices.
9 You judge well, continued he, in annulling the commandment of God, to make room for your traditions.
10 For Moses has said, "Honor your father and mother" and "Whosoever reviles father or mother, shall be punished with death."
11 But you maintain, if a man say to father or mother, "Be it corban (that is, devoted) whatever of mine shall profit you";
12 he must not thenceforth do anything for his father or mother;
13 thus invalidating the word of God, by the tradition which you have established. And in many other instances you act thus.
14 Then having called the whole multitude, he said to them, Hearken to me all of you, and be instructed.
15 There is nothing from without, which entering into the man, can pollute him; but the things which proceed from within the man, are the things that pollute him.
16 If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.
17 When he had withdrawn from the people into a house, his disciples asked him the meaning of that sentence.
18 He answered, Are you also void of understanding? Do you not perceive, that whatsoever from without enters into the man, can not pollute him;
19 because it enters not into his heart, but into his stomach, whence all impurities in the victuals pass into the sink.
20 But, added he, that which proceeds out of the man, is what pollutes the man:
21 for from within the human heart proceed vicious machinations, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts,
22 insatiable desires, malevolence, fraud, immodesty, envy, calumny, arrogance, levity.
23 All these evils issue from within, and pollute the man.
24 Then he arose, and went to the frontiers of Tyre and Sidon; and having entered a house, he desired that none might know of him; but he could not be concealed.
25 For a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, hearing of him, came and threw herself at his feet,
26 (the woman was a Greek, a native of Syrophenicia, ) and entreated him that he would cast the demon out of her daughter.
27 Jesus answered, Let the children first be satisfied; for it is not seemly to take the children bread, and throw it to the dogs.
28 She replied, True, Sir; yet even the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.
29 He said to her, For this answer go home; the demon is gone out of your daughter.
30 Immediately she went home, and found her daughter lying upon the bed, and freed from the demon.
31 Then leaving the borders of Tyre and Sidon, he returned to the sea of Galilee, through the precincts of Decapolis.
32 And they brought to him a deaf man, who had also an impediment in his speech, and entreated him to lay his hand upon him.
33 Jesus having taken him aside from the crowd, spit upon his own fingers, and put them into the man's ears, and touched his tongue.
34 Then looking up to heaven, and sighing, he said, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.
35 Immediately his ears were opened, and his tongue loosed, and he spoke distinctly.
36 He charged them to tell no person: but the more he charged them, the more they published it,
37 saying with inexpressible amazement, He does everything well: he makes both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.
