Mark 7

KJV · Chapter 7/16

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.

📖 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 7:20Jesus repeats the central principle even more directly: defilement comes from inside a person, not from outside.
  21. Mark 7:21The list of evils begins with the heart, not the stomach — evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual immorality, and murders open the enumeration.
  22. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 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. Mark 7:35The healing is immediate and complete: ears opened and speech freed at the same moment, with no gradual process.
  36. Mark 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. Mark 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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