7Mark 7

The Teaching of the Ancestors

1Some Pharisees and several teachers of the Law of Moses from Jerusalem came and gathered around Jesus.Select Mark 7:1

2They noticed that some of his disciples ate without first washing their hands.Select Mark 7:2

3The Pharisees and many others obey the teachings of their ancestors. They always wash their hands in the proper way before eating.Select Mark 7:3

4None of them will eat anything they buy in the market until it is washed. They also follow a lot of other teachings, such as washing cups, pitchers, and bowls.Select Mark 7:4

5The Pharisees and teachers asked Jesus, “Why don't your disciples obey what our ancestors taught us to do? Why do they eat without washing their hands?”Select Mark 7:5

6Jesus replied: You are nothing but show-offs! The prophet Isaiah was right when he wrote that God had said, “All of you praise me with your words, but you never really think about me.Select Mark 7:6

7It is useless for you to worship me, when you teach rules made up by humans.”Select Mark 7:7

8You disobey God's commands in order to obey what humans have taught.Select Mark 7:8

9You are good at rejecting God's commands so that you can follow your own teachings!Select Mark 7:9

10Didn't Moses command you to respect your father and mother? Didn't he tell you to put to death all who curse their parents?Select Mark 7:10

11But you let people get by without helping their parents when they should. You let them say that what they own has been offered to God.Select Mark 7:11

12You won't let those people help their parents.Select Mark 7:12

13And you ignore God's commands in order to follow your own teaching. You do a lot of other things just as bad.Select Mark 7:13

What Really Makes People Unclean

14Jesus called the crowd together again and said, “Pay attention and try to understand what I mean.Select Mark 7:14

16The food that you put into your mouth doesn't make you unclean and unfit to worship God. The bad words that come out of your mouth are what make you unclean.”Select Mark 7:16

17After Jesus and his disciples had left the crowd and gone into the house, they asked him what these sayings meant.Select Mark 7:17

18He answered, “Don't you know what I am talking about by now? You surely know that the food you put into your mouth cannot make you unclean.Select Mark 7:18

19It doesn't go into your heart, but into your stomach, and then out of your body.” By saying this, Jesus meant that all foods were fit to eat.Select Mark 7:19

20Then Jesus said: What comes from your heart is what makes you unclean.Select Mark 7:20

21Out of your heart come evil thoughts, vulgar deeds, stealing, murder,Select Mark 7:21

22unfaithfulness in marriage, greed, meanness, deceit, indecency, envy, insults, pride, and foolishness.Select Mark 7:22

23All of these come from your heart, and they are what make you unfit to worship God.Select Mark 7:23

A Woman's Faith

24Jesus left and went to the region near the town of Tyre, where he stayed in someone's home. He did not want people to know he was there, but they found out anyway.Select Mark 7:24

25A woman whose daughter had an evil spirit in her heard where Jesus was. And at once she came and knelt down at his feet.Select Mark 7:25

26The woman was Greek and had been born in the part of Syria known as Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to force the demon out of her daughter.Select Mark 7:26

27But Jesus said, “The children must first be fed! It isn't right to take away their food and feed it to dogs.”Select Mark 7:27

28The woman replied, “Lord, even puppies eat the crumbs that children drop from the table.”Select Mark 7:28

29Jesus answered, “That's true! You may go now. The demon has left your daughter.”Select Mark 7:29

30When the woman got back home, she found her child lying on the bed. The demon had gone.Select Mark 7:30

Jesus Heals a Man Who Was Deaf and Could Hardly Talk

31Jesus left the region around Tyre and went by way of Sidon toward Lake Galilee. He went through the land near the ten cities known as Decapolis.Select Mark 7:31

32Some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk. They begged Jesus just to touch him.Select Mark 7:32

33After Jesus had taken him aside from the crowd, he stuck his fingers in the man's ears. Then he spit and put it on the man's tongue.Select Mark 7:33

34Jesus looked up toward heaven, and with a groan he said, “Effatha!” which means “Open up!”Select Mark 7:34

35At once the man could hear, and he had no more trouble talking clearly.Select Mark 7:35

36Jesus told the people not to say anything about what he had done. But the more he told them, the more they talked about it.Select Mark 7:36

37They were completely amazed and said, “Everything he does is good! He even heals people who cannot hear or talk.”Select Mark 7:37