Mark 7 · WEB
Tradition, Defilement, and Faith Beyond Israel
Listen — WEB narration 0:00 / 0:00 Narration: World English Bible (David Williams), public domain — AudioTreasure.
Tap a verse to copy it, open the Greek, or write a note.
Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered together to him, having come from Jerusalem.
2Now when they saw some of his disciples eating bread with defiled, that is unwashed, hands, they found fault.
3(For the Pharisees and all the Jews don't eat unless they wash their hands and forearms, holding to the tradition of the elders.
4They don't eat when they come from the marketplace unless they bathe themselves, and there are many other things which they have received to hold to: washings of cups, pitchers, bronze vessels, and couches.)
5The Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why don't your disciples walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with unwashed hands?"
6He answered 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.
7But they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'
8"For you set aside the commandment of God, and hold tightly to the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and you do many other such things."
9He said to them, "Full well do you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.
10For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother;' and, 'He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.'
11But you say, 'If a man tells his father or his 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,
13making void the word of God by your tradition, which you have handed down. You do many things like this."
14He called all the multitude to himself, and said to them, "Hear me, all of you, and understand.
15There is nothing from outside of the man, that going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man.
16If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!"
17When he had entered into a house away from the multitude, his disciples asked him about the parable.
18He said to them, "Are you also without understanding? Don't you perceive that whatever goes into the man from outside can't defile him,
19because it doesn't go into his heart, but into his stomach, then into the latrine, making all foods clean?"
20He said, "That which proceeds out of the man, that defiles the man.
21For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts,
22covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness.
23All these evil things come from within, and defile the man."
24From there he arose, and went away into the borders of Tyre and Sidon. He entered into a house, and didn't want anyone to know it, but he couldn't escape notice.
25For a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, having heard of him, came and fell down at his feet.
26Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by race. She begged him that he would cast the demon out of her daughter.
27But Jesus 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."
28But she answered him, "Yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."
29He said to her, "For this saying, go your way. The demon has gone out of your daughter."
30She went away to her house, and found the child having been laid on the bed, with the demon gone out.
31Again he departed from the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and came to the sea of Galilee, through the middle of the region of Decapolis.
32They brought to him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. They begged him to lay his hand on him.
33He took him aside from the multitude, privately, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat, and touched his tongue.
34Looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha!" that is, "Be opened!"
35Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was released, and he spoke clearly.
36He commanded them that they should tell no one, but the more he commanded them, so much the more widely they proclaimed it.
37They were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well. He makes even the deaf hear, and the mute speak!"
✶
Summary
Jesus confronts the Pharisees over their tradition of ritual handwashing and the way they use the "Corban" loophole to neglect parents, declaring that defilement comes from within the heart, not from food. He then ministers to a Gentile mother in the region of Tyre and Sidon, granting her daughter's deliverance because of her humble persistence. Returning through the Decapolis, he heals a deaf and mute man, drawing astonished praise that "he has done all things well."
Themes
- Tradition versus the commandment of God
- The heart as the true source of defilement
- The clean/unclean barrier dismantled
- Faith of an outsider rewarded
- Jesus' ministry extended to Gentiles
Key verses
- Mark 7:15 — “There is nothing from outside of the man, that going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man.”
- Mark 7:28 — “Yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.”
- Mark 7:37 — “He has done all things well. He makes even the deaf hear, and the mute speak!”
- Mark 7:6 — “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”
Context & background
Writing for a Roman audience around AD 60-65, Mark pauses to explain Jewish handwashing practices to readers unfamiliar with them. The confrontation likely takes place in Galilee (northern Israel) after a delegation arrives from Jerusalem. "Corban" was a vow that dedicated property to the temple, sometimes exploited to dodge the obligation of supporting aging parents. Tyre and Sidon were Phoenician cities on the Mediterranean coast in modern Lebanon, populated by Gentiles; the Decapolis was a league of ten Greek cities east and southeast of the Sea of Galilee in modern Jordan and Syria. Mark's parenthetical comment "making all foods clean" signaled to early Christians that the Mosaic food laws no longer divided Jew from Gentile.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 17:8-24 — Elijah ministers to a Gentile widow in Sidon, prefiguring Jesus' outreach to the region.
- Acts 10:14-15 — Peter's vision declaring all foods clean, fulfilling Jesus' teaching here.
- Exodus 20:12 — The fifth commandment to honor father and mother, which Corban tradition undermined.
- Isaiah 29:13 — Source of Jesus' quote about lips honoring God while hearts are far from him.
- Isaiah 35:5-6 — Messianic prophecy that the deaf will hear and the mute will sing, fulfilled in Mark 7:37.