Mark 7

1And the Pharisees and some of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, gather around him.

2and they saw that some of his disciples were eating the bread with defiled hands—that is, unwashed hands—

3For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands with a fist, holding to the tradition of the elders.

4And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash themselves, and there are many other things that they have received to keep: washings of cups and pitchers 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 bread with unclean hands?”

6But he said to them, “Isaiah prophesied well about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.’”

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

8Leaving the commandment of God, you hold fast to the tradition of men.

9And he was saying to them, “You neatly set aside the commandment of God so that you may keep your tradition.”

10For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.’

11But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, “Corban” (that is, a gift), whatever you might have benefited from me—’

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

13thus nullifying the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many other similar things.

14And calling the crowd to him again, he was saying to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand.”

15There is nothing outside a man that by going into him is able to defile him; rather, the things that come out from the man are what defile the man.

16If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.

17And when he entered a house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable.

18And he said to them, “So are you also without understanding? Do you not understand that everything that enters into the man from outside is not able to defile him,”

19because it does not enter into his heart but into his stomach, and goes out into the latrine"—thus cleansing all foods.

20And he was saying, “What comes out from the man—that defiles the man.”

21For from within, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts come out: sexual immoralities, thefts, murders,

22adulteries, greed, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, an evil eye, slander, pride, foolishness.

23All these evil things come out from within and defile the man.

24From there he got up and went away to the region of Tyre. After entering a house, he wanted no one to know it, yet he could not remain hidden.

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

26The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she kept asking him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

27And he was saying to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”

28But she answered and said to him, “Lord, even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs.”

29And he said to her, “Because of this word, go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.”

30And when she went away to her house, she found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

31And again, after departing from the region of Tyre, he came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the midst of the region of the Decapolis.

32And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had difficulty speaking, 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, he touched his tongue.

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

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

36And he ordered them to tell no one. But the more he ordered them, the more abundantly they proclaimed it.

37And they were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done everything well. He makes even the deaf hear and the mute speak.”