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Marcos 7

BLIVRE · Chapter 7/16

1Os fariseus, e alguns dos escribas, que tinham vindo de Jerusalém, reuniram-se com ele.

2E, quando viram que alguns dos discípulos dele comiam pão com mãos impuras, isto é, sem lavar, repreendiam-lhes.

3(Pois os fariseus, e todos os judeus, mantendo a tradição dos antigos, se não lavarem bastante as mãos, não comem.

4E, quando voltam da rua, se não se lavarem, não comem; e há muitas outras coisas que se encarregam de guardar, [como] lavar os copos, as vasilhas, os utensílios de metal, e os leitos).

5Depois os fariseus e os escribas lhe perguntaram: Por que os teus discípulos não andam conforme a tradição dos antigos, em vez de comerem pão com as mãos sem lavar?

6E ele lhes respondeu: Bem profetizou Isaías acerca de vós, hipócritas! Como está escrito: Este povo me honra com os lábios, mas o seu coração está longe de mim.

7Eles, porém, me honram em vão, ensinando como doutrinas mandamentos humanos.

8Pois vós deixais o mandamento de Deus, e mantendes a tradição humana, [como] lavar as vasilhas e os copos; e fazeis muitas outras coisas semelhantes a estas.

9E dizia-lhes: Vós dispensais o mandamento de Deus para guardardes a vossa tradição;

10porque Moisés disse: Honra o teu pai e a tua mãe. E quem maldisser ao pai ou à mãe terá de morrer.

11Mas vós dizeis: Se o homem disser ao pai ou à mãe: Tudo o que te puder aproveitar de mim é corbã (isto é, oferta),

12então não lhe deixais mais nada fazer por seu pai ou por sua mãe.

13Assim invalidaias a palavra de Deus por vossa tradição, que ordenastes; e [fazeis] muitas coisas semelhantes a estas.

14E chamando para si toda a multidão, disse-lhes: Ouvi-me todos, e entendei:

15Nada há fora do ser humano que nele entre que o possa contaminar; mas o que dele sai, isso é o que contamina o ser humano.

16Se alguém tem ouvidos para ouvir, ouça.

17Quando [Jesus] deixou a multidão e entrou em casa, seus discípulos lhe perguntaram sobre a parábola.

18E ele lhes disse: Também vós estais assim sem entendimento? Não entendeis que tudo o que de fora entra no ser humano não o pode contaminar?

19Pois não entra no seu coração, mas, sim, no ventre, e sai para a privada. (Assim, ele declarou como limpas todas as comidas).

20E dizia: O que sai do ser humano, isso contamina o ser humano.

21Pois é de dentro do coração humano que vêm os maus pensamentos, os adultérios, os pecados sexuais, os homicídios,

22os roubos, as ganâncias, as maldades, o engano, a depravação, o olho malicioso, a blasfêmia, a soberba, a insensatez.

23Todos estes males procedem de dentro, e contaminam o ser humano.

24[Jesus] levantou-se dali e foi para a região de Tiro e de Sidom. Ele entrou numa casa, e não queria que ninguém soubesse disso, mas não pôde se esconder.

25Pois uma mulher, cuja filhinha tinha um espírito imundo, assim que ouviu falar dele, veio, e prostrou-se a seus pés.

26Esta mulher era grega, de nacionalidade sirofenícia; e rogava-lhe que expulsasse o demônio de sua filha.

27Mas Jesus lhe disse: Deixa primeiro que os filhos se fartem; porque não é bom tomar o pão dos filhos, e lançá-lo aos cachorrinhos.

28Porém ela lhe respondeu: Sim Senhor; mas também os cachorrinhos comem debaixo da mesa, das migalhas que os filhos deixam.

29Então ele lhe disse: Por esta palavra, vai, o demônio já saiu da tua filha.

30Quando ela chegou à sua casa, encontrou que o demônio já havia saído, e a filha estava deitada sobre a cama.

31Então [Jesus] voltou a sair da região de Tiro e de Sidom, e veio para o mar da Galilea, por meio da região de Decápolis.

32E trouxeram-lhe um surdo que dificilmente falava, e rogaram-lhe que pusesse a mão sobre ele.

33E tomando-o em separado da multidão, pôs os seus dedos nos ouvidos dele, cuspiu, e tocou-lhe a língua.

34Depois, levantando os olhos ao céu, suspirou, e disse: Efatá, (isto é, abre-te).

35Imediatamente os ouvidos dele se abriram, e o que prendia sua língua se soltou, e passou a falar bem.

36[Jesus] lhes mandou que a ninguém dissessem; porém, quanto mais lhes mandava, mais divulgavam.

37E ficavam muito admirados, dizendo: Ele faz tudo bem! Aos surdos faz ouvir, e aos mudos falar.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Jesus confronts the Pharisees about human traditions that override the law of God, teaches that impurity comes from within the heart, heals the daughter of a Syrophoenician woman, and restores the speech and hearing of a deaf-mute man.

Explanation

The Jewish practice of washing hands before eating, mentioned here, was not originally about hygiene but a ceremonial purity ritual that had, according to Jesus, become more important to some than the commandments of God themselves. The criticism of 'corban' exposes a legal loophole used to avoid supporting one's parents, showing how well-intentioned traditions can be twisted to justify selfishness. The Syrophoenician woman, a Gentile from the region of present-day Lebanon/Syria, shows persistent faith even in the face of an initially reserved response from Jesus, and is answered because of her humble, sharp argument. The healing of the deaf-mute man, with Jesus touching his tongue and ears and speaking the Aramaic word 'ephphatha' ('be opened'), shows Jesus using sensory methods that someone unable to hear verbal explanations could understand.

Fun facts

  • The region of Tyre and Sidon, where the Syrophoenician woman came from, lay outside Galilee, on the Mediterranean coast — showing that Jesus' fame had already reached territory that was predominantly Gentile.
  • 'Ephphatha' is one of the few Aramaic words preserved literally in the Greek text of Mark, suggesting that the author wanted to capture with precision the moment experienced by the witnesses.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Marcos 7:1Pharisees and scribes coming straight from Jerusalem, the most important religious center, show that Jesus’s fame had already caught the attention of authorities from the capital, not just local leaders in Galilee.
  2. Marcos 7:2Eating with “defiled,” meaning unwashed, hands was a ritual issue, not one of hygiene as we understand it today — the problem for them was religious, not sanitary.
  3. Marcos 7:3This washing had nothing to do with hygiene as we understand it today: it was a purity ritual inherited from the tradition of the elders, not from the written law of Moses, and it also applied to cups, pitchers, and tables. The Pharisees took this tradition as seriously as the law itself, and it is this distinction between human tradition and God’s commandment that Jesus questions right after.
  4. Marcos 7:4The list of things washed by tradition even includes “tables,” which in the underlying practice were actually the low couches people reclined on during meals, also treated as part of the purity ritual.
  5. Marcos 7:5The question from the Pharisees and scribes goes straight to the point, demanding a public explanation for the disciples’ behavior regarding a tradition they followed to the letter.
  6. Marcos 7:6Jesus answers by quoting the prophet Isaiah, who centuries earlier had already described a people who honor God only with words, without involving the heart — the quotation serves as a mirror for the accusation they had just made.
  7. Marcos 7:7The rest of the Isaiah quotation completes the accusation: worship that amounts to following human rules, taught as if they were divine commandments, is worth nothing.
  8. Marcos 7:8Jesus applies the quotation directly: they traded God’s commandment for the tradition of the elders, and the example of washing pitchers and cups is just one among many.
  9. Marcos 7:9The tone here is ironic: “full well ye reject” sounds like backhanded praise, highlighting just how skilled they were at getting around the original commandment with rules of their own.
  10. Marcos 7:10Jesus cites two commandments of Moses side by side — honoring father and mother, and the severe penalty for cursing them — as the standard being sidestepped by the practice He criticizes next.
  11. Marcos 7:11“Corban” was a formal declaration dedicating a possession to God, making it off-limits for any other use, including supporting one’s own parents. Jesus points out that some people used this religious formula as a legal excuse not to help needy parents, keeping a tradition while breaking a much older commandment.
  12. Marcos 7:12This is the practical result of the Corban maneuver: once a possession was declared an offering to God, the person was officially free of any obligation to help their parents, even if they were in need.
  13. Marcos 7:13Jesus’s conclusion is direct: the tradition they themselves created was, in practice, nullifying the word of God — and this was not an isolated case, but a repeated pattern.
  14. Marcos 7:14Jesus changes His audience: instead of answering only the Pharisees and scribes, He calls the whole crowd to hear the teaching that comes next.
  15. Marcos 7:15This principle reverses the logic of ritual purity discussed so far: what defiles a person is not what enters through the mouth, but what comes out from within.
  16. Marcos 7:16The same invitation to truly listen that appears in other parables of the Gospel returns here, signaling that the saying deserves reflection, not just a surface-level hearing.
  17. Marcos 7:17The pattern repeats once more: in public Jesus speaks in a direct image, and it is the disciples, alone with Him at home, who ask to understand better what He meant.
  18. Marcos 7:18Jesus’s question sounds like a gentle rebuke: even after so much time with Him, the disciples still had not grasped an idea He considered basic.
  19. Marcos 7:19This parenthetical comment is Mark’s own, explaining to his readers, who did not follow Jewish dietary laws, what Jesus’s words meant in practice. It’s a sign that the Gospel was already being read by people outside Jewish culture, who needed this extra explanation.
  20. Marcos 7:20Jesus repeats the central principle even more directly: defilement comes from inside a person, not from outside.
  21. Marcos 7:21The list of evils begins with the heart, not the stomach — evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual immorality, and murders open the enumeration.
  22. Marcos 7:22The list continues with nine more items, a common device in moral teaching at the time: listing vices in sequence to reinforce the idea that the problem is internal and varied, not a single isolated flaw.
  23. Marcos 7:23The closing line ties off the whole chapter’s argument: all these evils arise from within a person, finally settling the discussion about washed hands that opened the chapter.
  24. Marcos 7:24Tyre and Sidon lay well outside Jewish territory, so this trip represents one of the few times Jesus deliberately enters foreign land, trying, without success, to go unnoticed.
  25. Marcos 7:25The woman acts as soon as she hears about Him, without hesitating — she goes straight to fall at Jesus’s feet, a gesture of urgency and pleading.
  26. Marcos 7:26Calling her Greek and Syrophoenician makes clear she was doubly outside the Jewish community, both by culture and by region of origin — a sharp contrast with the Jewish crowds Jesus had been dealing with up to this point.
  27. Marcos 7:27The woman was Greek, of Syrian origin — that is, from outside the Jewish people — and Jesus uses an expression comparing non-Jews to little dogs by the table, a harsh image, but a common one at the time, for those outside the covenant with Israel. Her reply does not deny the image; it simply points out that even little dogs eat the crumbs that fall.
  28. Marcos 7:28The woman’s reply accepts the image Jesus used without taking offense, simply turning the argument in her favor: even the little dogs eat the crumbs left over from the children’s table.
  29. Marcos 7:29Jesus credits her reply as what secures the healing — it’s not an arbitrary change of mind, but a direct acknowledgment of the woman’s sharp answer and persistence.
  30. Marcos 7:30The healing happens at a distance, without Jesus ever seeing the girl: the mother only confirms the result when she returns home and finds her daughter lying down, the spirit already gone.
  31. Marcos 7:31The route described is long and takes a considerable detour, passing again through mostly non-Jewish territory before returning to the area of the Sea of Galilee.
  32. Marcos 7:32They bring Jesus a man who is deaf and has a speech impediment, specifically asking Him to lay hands on the man, a healing gesture already familiar to the public.
  33. Marcos 7:33Taking the man aside from the crowd, putting His fingers in his ears, and touching his tongue with saliva were recognizable healing gestures of the time, also used by other folk healers.
  34. Marcos 7:34Another Aramaic word preserved by Mark and immediately translated, again showing the author’s care in keeping the exact sound of what Jesus said. The gesture of touching the tongue and ears, common in healings of the time, accompanies the word — it wasn’t the word alone that did something, but part of a recognizable way of healing.
  35. Marcos 7:35The healing is immediate and complete: ears opened and speech freed at the same moment, with no gradual process.
  36. Marcos 7:36Once again the request for secrecy has the opposite effect: the more Jesus insists they not tell anyone, the more people spread the news.
  37. Marcos 7:37The crowd’s astonishment echoes, without quoting it directly, an ancient prophecy of Isaiah about the deaf hearing and the mute speaking as a sign of the promised times.

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