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The Gospels · New Testament

Mark 7

Mark 7: tradition, what defiles, and Ephphatha

General context

Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem see some disciples eat with unwashen hands and find fault. The narrator pauses to explain the practice of washing before eating and of washing cups, pots, brasen vessels and tables. To their question Jesus answers with a quotation from Esaias about lips that honour while the heart is far away, says they lay aside the commandment of God to keep their own tradition, and gives the example of a man who calls his support Corban, which the text explains as a gift, and so does nothing more for his father or mother. Calling the people, he says nothing entering a man from outside can defile him, but what comes out does. In the house the disciples ask about the saying, and he lists evil thoughts, adulteries, murders, thefts, covetousness, deceit, pride and foolishness as coming from within. In the borders of Tyre and Sidon a Greek woman, Syrophenician by nation, begs for her daughter; he speaks of the children's bread and the dogs, she answers that the dogs eat the crumbs, and he tells her the devil has gone out of her daughter, which she finds to be so at home. Through Decapolis they bring him a deaf man with an impediment in his speech. He takes the man aside, touches his ears and tongue, sighs, and says Ephphatha, that is, Be opened; the man hears and speaks plain, and the more Jesus charges silence the more they publish it.

Cited passages: Mark 7:1, Mark 7:2, Mark 7:3, Mark 7:4, Mark 7:5, Mark 7:6, Mark 7:7, Mark 7:8, Mark 7:9, Mark 7:10, Mark 7:11, Mark 7:12, Mark 7:13, Mark 7:14, Mark 7:15, Mark 7:16, Mark 7:17, Mark 7:18, Mark 7:19, Mark 7:20, Mark 7:21, Mark 7:22, Mark 7:23, Mark 7:24, Mark 7:25, Mark 7:26, Mark 7:27, Mark 7:28, Mark 7:29, Mark 7:30, Mark 7:31, Mark 7:32, Mark 7:33, Mark 7:34, Mark 7:35, Mark 7:36, Mark 7:37

Mark 7 (KJV)

1Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem.

2And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault.

3For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.

4And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables.

5Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?

6He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

7Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

8For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.

9And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

10For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:

11But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free.

12And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother;

13Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

14And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand:

15There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.

16If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.

17And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.

18And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;

19Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?

20And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.

21For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

22Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:

23All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

24And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid.

25For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet:

26The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.

27But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.

28And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs.

29And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.

30And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.

31And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis.

32And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him.

33And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue;

34And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.

35And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.

36And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it;

37And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

Mark explains a custom to readers who evidently do not know it, describing what the Pharisees and all the Jews do before eating and what they hold about vessels. He also glosses two foreign words, Corban as a gift and Ephphatha as Be opened, in the same way he translated Talitha cumi earlier. Jesus credits the quotation about honouring with the lips to Esaias; the printed verses carry no separate heading or source note. The woman is identified by nation rather than name, a Greek and a Syrophenician. The clause about purging all meats stands in the printed text at the close of that explanation. The chapter names Tyre, Sidon, Decapolis and the sea of Galilee and supplies no dates.

Cited passages: Mark 7:1, Mark 7:2, Mark 7:3, Mark 7:4, Mark 7:6, Mark 7:11, Mark 7:19, Mark 7:26, Mark 7:31, Mark 7:34, Mark 5:41, Mark 3:17

Literary context

The chapter moves from outside to inside and then back out. A dispute about washing hands gives way to a saying about what comes out of the heart, explained privately in a house, and then to two healings outside Galilee. The woman's reply works by taking his own image and extending it, and the text ties his answer directly to her words, since he says it is for this saying that she may go. The deaf man is led away from the multitude and healed by touch and a single spoken word, and Mark keeps the word in its original sound before giving its meaning. The closing charge to tell no one is broken as it was in chapter one, and the crowd's praise is put in their own mouths rather than the narrator's.

Cited passages: Mark 7:5, Mark 7:14, Mark 7:15, Mark 7:17, Mark 7:18, Mark 7:20, Mark 7:21, Mark 7:23, Mark 7:27, Mark 7:28, Mark 7:29, Mark 7:33, Mark 7:34, Mark 7:35, Mark 7:36, Mark 7:37, Mark 1:45

Key moments

  1. Fault found over hands (Mark 7:5). Pharisees and scribes ask why his disciples do not follow the tradition of the elders.
  2. Corban explained (Mark 7:11). Jesus cites a vow called Corban, which the text renders as a gift.
  3. What defiles a man (Mark 7:15). He tells the people that defilement comes out of a man, not into him.
  4. The list from within (Mark 7:21). Evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications and murders are said to proceed from the heart.
  5. Crumbs under the table (Mark 7:28). The Syrophenician woman answers that the dogs eat the children’s crumbs.
  6. Ephphatha (Mark 7:34). He sighs, looks up and speaks a word the text renders as Be opened.
  7. The more charged, the more told (Mark 7:36). His charge to tell no man makes them publish it all the more.

For reflection

The narrator stops the story to explain a washing custom to his readers. What does that pause suggest about who the chapter expects to be reading, and what else does it choose to translate?

People in this chapter

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