The AI Bible

Mark 7

Edition 0.1

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1The Pharisees and some scribes who had come from Jerusalem came together around Jesus. 2They noticed that some of his disciples were eating their food with defiled hands, that is, with unwashed hands.a 3For the Pharisees and all the Jews, keeping the tradition of the elders, never eat without first washing their hands carefully.b 4And when they come from the marketplace, they never eat without first washing themselves. They also keep many other things handed down to them: the washing of cups, pitchers, copper pots, and dining couches. 5So the Pharisees and the scribes asked Jesus, "Why do your disciples not walk by the tradition of the elders, but instead eat their food with defiled hands?"

6Jesus said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘With their lips these people honor me, while their hearts are far away from me. 7They worship me in vain, teaching human rules as doctrines.’ 8You abandon the commandment of God and hold fast to human tradition.”c

9Jesus also said to them, “How neatly you set aside the commandment of God to keep your own tradition! 10For it was Moses who said both ‘Honor your father and your mother’ and ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.’d 11But you say that if anyone tells his or her father or mother, ‘Whatever support you would have had from me is Corban’ (that is, an offering), 12then you no longer let that person do anything for his or her father or mother. 13In this way you cancel the word of God through your tradition, which you have handed down. And you do many other things like that.” 14Then he called the crowd to him again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand:e 15Nothing that goes into a person from outside can make that person unclean. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that makes that person unclean.”f 16Not in the SBLGNT; see the note.g

17When Jesus had gone indoors, away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18He said to them, “Are you also so lacking in understanding? Do you not see that nothing entering a person from outside can defile that person, 19since it does not enter the heart but the stomach, and from there it goes out into the latrine?” By saying this, Jesus made all foods clean.h 20He went on, “What comes out of a person, that is what defiles a person. 21For from within, out of the human heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22adultery, greed, wicked deeds, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness.i 23All these evil things come out from within, and they defile a person.”

24Jesus set out from there and went into the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there, but he could not stay hidden.j 25Instead, a woman heard about him at once. Her little daughter had an unclean spirit, and the woman came and fell down at his feet. 26The woman was a Gentile, Syrophoenician by birth. She kept begging him to drive the demon from her daughter. 27Jesus said to her, “Let the children eat their fill first, since it is not right to take the bread from the children and throw it to the little dogs.” 28But she answered him, “Lord, even the little dogs under the table eat some of the children’s crumbs.”k

29Jesus said to her, "Because of that answer, go. The demon has left your daughter." 30When she got home, she found the child lying on the bed. The demon had left her daughter. 31Jesus set out again from the region of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis.l 32Some people brought him a man who was deaf and could hardly speak, and they begged Jesus to lay his hand on him.

33Jesus took the man aside in private, away from the crowd. He placed his fingers in the man's ears. Then he spat and touched the man's tongue. 34Then he looked up to heaven, gave a deep sigh, and said to the man, "Ephphatha!" which means, "Be opened!"m 35The man's ears were opened, his tongue was untied, and he began to speak clearly.n 36Jesus ordered them to tell no one. But the more he kept ordering them, the more widely they kept proclaiming it. 37The people were astonished beyond all measure. "He has done everything well," they said. "He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."

Notes

  1. 2aThe Byzantine text (Robinson-Pierpont) and the Textus Receptus end this verse with "they found fault." The SBL Greek text has no main verb here; Mark breaks off and resumes in verse 5.
  2. 3bGreek: with the fist. The exact meaning is uncertain; the phrase has also been taken to mean "diligently" or "up to the elbow."
  3. 8cAfter “human tradition,” the Byzantine text and the Textus Receptus add “the washing of jugs and cups, and you do many other things like this.” The SBLGNT, followed here, lacks them, as do manuscripts B and L and the Coptic.
  4. 10dOr curses. The Greek verb means to speak ill of or revile; in the Greek Old Testament it translates the Hebrew verb for cursing, including in the Exodus law quoted here.
  5. 14eInstead of again, the Byzantine text and the Textus Receptus read called all the crowd.
  6. 15fOr defile. The Greek verb is used of making someone ceremonially unclean or profane.
  7. 16gThe SBLGNT does not include verse 16. The Byzantine text and the Textus Receptus add: “If anyone has ears to hear, let that person hear.”
  8. 19hThe Byzantine text and the Textus Receptus read a neuter participle, which makes these words part of Jesus' question: the food passes out of the body, “cleansing all foods.”
  9. 22iGreek “an evil eye,” an idiom for envy or begrudging another's good (compare Matthew 20:15).
  10. 24jWestcott and Hort, Tregelles, the Byzantine text and the Textus Receptus read the region of Tyre and Sidon.
  11. 28kWestcott and Hort, Tregelles, the Byzantine text and the Textus Receptus read Yes, Lord. The Byzantine text and the Textus Receptus also add for: Yes, Lord, for even the little dogs.
  12. 31lThe Byzantine text and the Textus Receptus read "departed from the region of Tyre and Sidon and came to the Sea of Galilee," without the route through Sidon.
  13. 34mOr groaned. The Greek verb can mean to groan, though it often describes deep feeling held within rather than an outcry.
  14. 35nNA28, Robinson-Pierpont and the Textus Receptus read "Immediately the man's ears were opened." The SBL Greek New Testament, followed here, lacks "immediately."