Mark 7

And the Pharisees and some of the experts in the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered together around him.

And they had seen that some of his disciples ate bread with defiled—that is, unwashed—hands.

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

and when they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they bathe themselves, and there are many other things that they received and hold fast to, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper vessels.)

And the Pharisees and the experts in the law asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but instead eat bread with defiled hands?”

And he said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

“Abandoning the commandment of God, you hold firmly to the tradition of men.”

He also said to them, “You cleverly reject the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.

For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother, and, Whoever speaks evil of their father or mother, let him be put to death.

But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, “Whatever benefit you might have gained from me is Corban (which means, “Given to God”),”’

you then no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother,

thus you are setting aside the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”

And he called the crowd to himself again, and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand:

nothing that goes into a person from the outside is able to defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defiles that person.”

[[If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.]]

And when he had entered the house and was away from the crowd his disciples began asking him about the parable.

And he said to them, “So do you also not understand? Do you not understand that whatever goes into a person from the outside is not able to defile him

because it does not go into his heart but into his stomach and then goes out into the sewer?” (By saying this, he declared all foods clean.)

And he said, “What comes out of a person, that is what defiles the person.

For evil thoughts come from within, out of people’s hearts, such as sexual immorality, thefts, murders, adulteries,

greed, wickedness, deceit, unrestrained behavior, stinginess, insults, pride, senselessness—

all these evil things come from within and defile a person.”

And he stood up and departed from there into the region of Tyre. And he went into a house and did not want anyone to know about it, and yet he was not able to avoid being noticed.

But immediately after hearing about him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit came and fell down at his feet.

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

And he said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the pet dogs.”

But she answered and said to him, “Lord, even the pet dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

And he said to her, “Because you said this, go and see. The demon has gone out of your daughter.”

And when she returned to her house, she found the child lying on the bed and the demon had gone out.

And having departed from the region of Tyre, he again came to the Sea of Galilee by way of Sidon and then through the middle of the region of the Decapolis.

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

And he took him aside privately, away from the crowd, and he put his fingers into his ears. Then, after spitting on his fingers, he touched his tongue,

and looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”).

And immediately his ears were opened, and the thing that bound his tongue was removed, and he began to speak clearly.

And he ordered them to tell no one, but the more he ordered them, the more they continued to proclaim it.

And they were extremely astonished, saying, “He has done all things well! He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”