Mark 7

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1. 1A group of Pharisees and some scribes who had traveled from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus.
2. 2When they saw some of his disciples eating bread with defiled—that is, unwashed—hands, they found fault.
3. 3The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands thoroughly, following the tradition of the elders.
4. 4When they come from the market, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received to hold, such as the washing of cups, and pots, bronze vessels, and of tables.
5. 5Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?”
6. 6Jesus replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. As it's written: 'These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
7. 7Their worship is pointless, because they teach human rules as if they were God's commands.'
8. 8For you set aside the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men, like the washing of pots and cups, and you do many other similar things.
9. 9Then he told them, "You have a fine way of setting aside God's commandment so you can protect your own tradition!
10. 10Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses their father or mother must be put to death.'
11. 11“But you say, If a man says to his father or mother, ‘It is Corban’—that is, a gift—‘by whatever you might have gained from me,’ he shall be free.”
12. 12then you no longer let that person do anything for their father or mother.
13. 13You make the word of God ineffective through your tradition, which you have passed down. And you do many other similar things.
14. 14Jesus called the whole crowd over and said, "Listen to me, all of you, and make sure you understand this:
15. 15Nothing that enters a person from the outside can make them unclean. It's what comes out of a person that makes them unclean."
16. 16"If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!"
17. 17After he left the crowd and went inside a house, his disciples asked him what the parable meant.
18. 18He said to them, "Do you still not get it? Don't you realize that nothing going into a person from the outside can make them unclean?
19. 19It doesn't enter the heart but goes into the stomach and then out into the latrine, purging all foods.
20. 20He continued, "It's what comes out of a person that makes them unclean.
21. 21From within, out of a person's heart, come evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22. 22thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lustful behavior, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.
23. 23All these evil things come from within, and they are what make a person unclean."
24. 24Jesus left that area and traveled to the region of Tyre and Sidon. He went into a house and didn't want anyone to know he was there, but he couldn't stay hidden.
25. 25A woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him and came and fell at his feet.
26. 26She was a Greek woman, Syrophoenician by birth. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.
27. 27But Jesus told her, "Let the children eat first. It isn't right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."
28. 28She replied, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."
29. 29Jesus said to her, "Because of that answer, go home — the demon has left your daughter."
30. 30She went home and found her daughter lying on the bed, and the demon was gone.
31. 31Jesus left the region of Tyre and Sidon and made his way to the Sea of Galilee, traveling through the middle of the Decapolis region.
32. 32Some people brought him a man who was deaf and could barely speak, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.
33. 33Jesus took the man away from the crowd to be alone with him. He put his fingers in the man's ears, then spit and touched the man's tongue.
34. 34Looking up to heaven, he let out a deep sigh and said to the man, "Ephphatha!" — which means, "Be opened!"
35. 35Instantly the man's ears opened, his tongue was freed, and he began speaking clearly.
36. 36Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone, but the more he insisted, the more they spread the news.
37. 37People were completely amazed, saying, 'He has done all things well: he makes both the deaf hear and the mute speak.'