Mark 7

¹Now when the Pharisees gathered to him , with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem ,

²they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled , that is , unwashed .

³( For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders ,

⁴and when they come from the marketplace , they do not eat unless they wash . And there are many other traditions that they observe , such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches . )

⁵And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him , Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders , but eat with defiled hands ?

⁶And he said to 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 ;

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

⁸You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men .

⁹And he said to them , You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition !

¹⁰For Moses said , Honor your father and your mother ; and , Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die .

¹¹But you say , If a man tells his father or his mother , Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban (that is, given to God) —

¹²then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother ,

¹³thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down . And many such things you do .

¹⁴And he called the people to him again and said to them , Hear me , all of you, and understand :

¹⁵There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him , but the things that come out of a person are what defile him .

¹⁷And when he had entered the house and left the people , his disciples asked him about the parable .

¹⁸And he said to them , Then are you also without understanding ? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him ,

¹⁹since it enters not his heart but his stomach , and is expelled ? ( Thus he declared all foods clean .)

²⁰And he said , What comes out of a person is what defiles him .

²¹For from within , out of the heart of man , come evil thoughts , sexual immorality , theft , murder , adultery ,

²²coveting , wickedness , deceit , sensuality , envy , slander , pride , foolishness .

²³All these evil things come from within , and they defile a person .

²⁴And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon . And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know , yet he could not be hidden .

²⁵But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet .

²⁶Now the woman was a Gentile , a Syrophoenician by birth . And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter .

²⁷And he said to her , Let the children be fed first , for it is not right 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 .

²⁹And he said to her , For this statement you may go your way ; the demon has left your daughter .

³⁰And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone .

³¹Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee , in the region of the Decapolis .

³²And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment , and they begged him to lay his hand on him .

³³And taking him aside from the crowd privately , he put his fingers into his ears , and after spitting touched his tongue .

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

³⁵And his ears were opened , his tongue was released , and he spoke plainly .

³⁶And Jesus charged them to tell no one . But the more he charged them , the more zealously they proclaimed it.

³⁷And they were astonished beyond measure , saying , He has done all things well . He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak .