Mark 7
Ephphatha — Be Opened
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The Pharisees and Some of the Scribes Came
7:1The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Him.
7:2They saw that some of His disciples were eating their bread with common hands—that is, unwashed.
7:3For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands with the fist, holding to the tradition of the elders.
7:4On returning from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash themselves. There are many other things they received to observe: washings of cups, xestes vessels, copper vessels, and couches.
7:5The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with common hands?”
7:6He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied well about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with its lips, but their heart is far from Me.
7:7In vain do they worship Me, teaching human commandments as teachings.’
7:8You abandon God’s commandment and hold to human tradition.”
7:9He said to them, “You set aside God’s commandment very well indeed, so that you may keep your tradition!
7:10For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Let whoever speaks evil of father or mother surely die.’
7:11But you say, ‘If a person says to his father or mother, “Whatever benefit you might receive from me is Corban”—that is, a gift—’
7:12you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or mother,
7:13making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. You do many similar things.”
What Defiles a Person
7:14Calling the crowd to Him again, He said to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand.
7:15There is nothing outside a person that, by entering him, can defile him. Rather, the things coming out of a person are what defile the person.”
The Parable Explained to the Disciples
7:17When He entered a house away from the crowd, His disciples asked Him about the parable.
7:18He said to them, “Are you also so lacking in understanding? Do you not grasp that everything entering a person from outside cannot defile him,
7:19because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and goes out into the latrine?”—thus cleansing all foods.
7:20He said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles the person.
7:21For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil reasonings, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, murders,
7:22adulteries, acts of greed, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, an evil eye, slander, arrogance, foolishness.
7:23All these evil things come out from within and defile the person.”
The Syrophoenician Woman
7:24He rose from there and went away into the territory of Tyre. He entered a house and wanted no one to know, but He could not remain hidden.
7:25Immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, came, and fell at His feet.
7:26The woman was Greek, Syrophoenician by birth. She asked Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
7:27He said to her, “Let the children first be satisfied, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”
7:28She answered and said to Him, “Lord, even the little dogs under the table eat some of the children’s crumbs.”
7:29He said to her, “Because of this word, go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.”
7:30She went home and found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
A Deaf Man Healed
7:31Leaving the territory of Tyre again, He came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the middle of the territory of the Decapolis.
7:32They brought Him a man who was deaf and had difficulty speaking, and begged Him to lay His hand on him.
7:33Taking him aside privately, away from the crowd, He put His fingers into his ears, spat, and touched his tongue.
7:34Looking up to heaven, He sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”
7:35His ears were opened, the bond of his tongue was loosened, and he spoke correctly.
7:36He ordered them to tell no one. But the more He ordered them, the more abundantly they proclaimed it.
7:37They were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well! He even makes the deaf hear and the speechless speak.”
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.