< Mark 7 >
1 Then the Pharisees, and some of the scribes gathered together to him, having come from Jerusalem.
2 Now when they saw that some of his disciples ate bread with defiled, that is, unwashed, hands, they found fault.
3 (For the Pharisees, and all Jewish people, do not eat unless they wash their hands and forearms, holding to the Tradition of the Elders.
4 They do not eat when they come from the marketplace unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold to, the washing of cups and pitchers and copper vessels and dining couches.)
5 The Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not walk according to the Tradition of the Elders, but eat their bread with unwashed hands?"
6 He said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
7 And in vain do they worship me, teaching instructions that are the commandments of humans.'
8 "For you set aside the commandment of God, and hold tightly to human tradition."
9 He said to them, "Full well do you reject the commandment of God, that you may establish your tradition.
10 For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother;' and, 'Anyone who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.'
11 But you say, 'If anyone tells his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban, that is to say, given to God;"'
12 then you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or his mother,
13 making void the word of God by your tradition, which you have handed down. You do many things like this."
14 And he called the crowd to himself again, and said to them, "Hear me, all of you, and understand.
15 There is nothing from outside of the person, that going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the person are what defile the person."
16
17 When he had entered into a house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable.
18 He said to them, "Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever goes into the person from outside cannot defile him,
19 because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, then into the latrine, cleansing all the foods?"
20 He said, "That which proceeds out of the man, that defiles the man.
21 For from within, out of a person's heart, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts,
22 covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness.
23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man."
24 From there he arose, and went away into the region of Tyre and Sidon. He entered into a house, and did not want anyone to know it, but he could not escape notice.
25 But immediately a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell at his feet.
26 Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by race. She begged him that he would cast the demon out of her daughter.
27 But he said to her, "Let the children be filled first, for it is not appropriate to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."
28 But she answered him, "Yes, Sir. Yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."
29 He said to her, "For this saying, go your way. The demon has gone out of your daughter."
30 And when she went away to her house, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having left.
31 Again he departed from the borders of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the region of Decapolis.
32 They brought to him one who was deaf and had a speech difficulty, and they begged Jesus to lay his hand on him.
33 He took him aside from the crowd, privately, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat, and touched his tongue.
34 Looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha." that is, "Be opened."
35 And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was released, and he spoke clearly.
36 He commanded them that they should tell no one, but the more he commanded them, so much the more widely they proclaimed it.
37 They were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well. He makes even the deaf hear, and the mute speak."
