Mark 7 - 8
God’s Commandments, Man’s Traditions
7aAnd the Pharisees and some of the scribes *gathered around Him when they had come bfrom Jerusalem, 2and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with adefiled hands, that is, unwashed. 3(For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they 1carefully wash their hands, thus observing the atradition of the elders; 4and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they 1wash themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of acups and pitchers and copper pots2.) 5And the Pharisees and the scribes *asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the atradition of the elders, but eat their bread with bdefiled hands?” 6And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘aThis people honors Me with their lips,But their heart is far away from Me.
7‘aBut in vain do they worship Me,Teaching as doctrines the commands of men.’8“Leaving the commandment of God, you hold to the atradition of men.”
9And He was also saying to them, “You are good at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your atradition. 10“For Moses said, ‘aHonor your father and your mother’; and, ‘bHe who speaks evil of father or mother, is to 1be put to death’; 11but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever you might benefit from me is aCorban (that is to say, 1given to God),’ 12you no longer leave him to do anything for his father or his mother; 13thus invalidating the word of God by your atradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”
The Heart of Man
14And after He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: 15there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. 161[“And if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”]
17And when He had left the crowd and entered athe house, bHis disciples were asking Him about the parable. 18And He *said to them, “Are you lacking understanding in this way as well? Do you not 1perceive that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, 19because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and goes to the sewer?” (Thus He declared aall foods bclean.) 20And He was saying, “aThat which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. 21“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, 1,aenvy, slander, 2pride, and foolishness. 23“All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”
A Gentile Woman’s Faith
24aNow Jesus stood up and went away from there to the region of bTyre1. And when He had entered a house, He was wanting no one to know of it; 2yet He could not escape notice. 25But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. 26Now the woman was a 1Greek, of Syrophoenician descent. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27And He was saying to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not 1good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 28But she answered and *said to Him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.” 29And He said to her, “Because of this 1answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” 30And going back to her home, she found the child 1lying on the bed, the demon having left.
The Deaf Hear, the Mute Speak
31aAnd again He went out from the region of bTyre, and came through Sidon to cthe Sea of Galilee, within the region of the dDecapolis. 32And they *brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they *pleaded with Him to alay His hand on him. 33aAnd Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after bspitting, He touched his tongue; 34and looking up to heaven with a asigh, He *said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” 35And his ears were opened, and the 1impediment of his tongue 2was removed, and he began speaking plainly. 36And aHe gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He was ordering them, the more widely they bcontinued to proclaim it. 37And they were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
Jesus Feeds Four Thousand
8In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, aJesus called His disciples and *said to them, 2“aI feel compassion for the crowd because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat. 3“And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance.” 4And His disciples answered Him, “Where will anyone be able to find enough 1bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?” 5And He was asking them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven.” 6And He *directed the crowd to 1sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them. And He kept giving them to His disciples to 2serve to them, and they served them to the crowd. 7And they also had a few small fish; and aafter He blessed them, He ordered these to be 1served as well. 8And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large abaskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces. 9Now about four thousand were there, and He sent them away. 10And immediately He entered the boat with His disciples and came to the district of aDalmanutha.
11aAnd the Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, bseeking from Him 1a sign from heaven, testing Him. 12aAnd sighing deeply 1in His spirit, He *said, “Why does this generation seek 2a sign? Truly I say to you, 3,bno 4sign will be given to this generation.” 13And leaving them, He again embarked and went away to the other side.
14And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. 15And He was giving orders to them, saying, “aWatch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of bHerod.” 16And they began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17And Jesus, aware of this, *said to them, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? aDo you not yet perceive or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? 18“aHaving eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember, 19when I broke athe five loaves for the five thousand, how many bbaskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” They *said to Him, “Twelve.” 20“When I broke athe seven for the four thousand, how many large bbaskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?” And they *said to Him, “Seven.” 21And He was saying to them, “aDo you not yet understand?”
22And they *came to aBethsaida. And they *brought a blind man to Jesus and *pleaded with Him to btouch him. 23And taking the blind man by the hand, He abrought him out of the village; and after bspitting on his eyes and claying His hands on him, He was asking him, “Do you see anything?” 24And he 1looked up and was saying, “I see men, for 2I see them like trees, walking around.” 25Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly. 26And He sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter athe village.”
Peter Confesses Jesus Is the Christ
27aAnd Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of bCaesarea Philippi; and on the way He was asking His disciples, saying to them, “Who do people say that I am?” 28aAnd they told Him, saying, “John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.” 29And He continued asking them, “But who do you say that I am?” aPeter *answered and *said to Him, “You are the 1Christ.” 30And aHe 1warned them to tell no one about Him.
31aAnd He began to teach them that bthe Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32And He was stating the matter aopenly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. 33But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and *said, “Get behind Me, aSatan! For you are not setting your mind on 1God’s interests, but man’s.”
Take Up Your Cross
34And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to 1come after Me, he must deny himself, and atake up his cross and follow Me. 35“For awhoever wishes to save his 1life will lose it, but whoever loses his 2life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? 37“For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 38“For awhoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, bthe Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He ccomes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”