Mark - Chapter 7

Passage

And the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him. And when they saw some of his disciples eating bread with common, that is, unwashed, hands, they found fault. For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat without washing their hands often, keeping the tradition of the ancients. And when they come from the market, they do not eat unless they wash; and there are many other things handed down to them to observe: the washing of cups, and pots, and bronze vessels, and beds. And the Pharisees and scribes asked him: Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the ancients, but eat bread with common hands? But he answered them: Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And in vain do they worship me, teaching doctrines and precepts of men. For leaving aside the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men: the washing of pots and of cups; and you do many other things like these. And he said to them: You cleverly set aside the commandment of God in order to keep your own tradition. For Moses said: Honor your father and your mother. And: Whoever curses father or mother, let him surely die. But you say: If a man says to his father or mother: Corban (which means a gift), whatever support you might have had from me, Then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother, Making void the word of God by your own tradition, which you have handed down. And you do many other things like this. And calling the crowd to him again, he said to them: Listen to me, all of you, and understand. There is nothing outside a man that by entering into him can defile him. But the things that come out of a man, these are what defile a man. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. And when he had gone into the house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he says to them: Are you also without understanding? Do you not understand that nothing from outside that enters a man can defile him, Because it does not enter his heart but goes into his stomach and passes out of the body, cleansing all foods? But he said that the things that come out of a man, these defile a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man. And rising from there he went into the region of Tyre and Sidon; and he went into a house and wanted no one to know it, but he could not be hidden. For as soon as a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him, she came in and fell down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, born in Syrophenicia. And she begged him to cast the devil out of her daughter. 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 dogs. But she answered him: Yes, Lord; but even the little dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs. And he said to her: Because of this saying, go your way. The devil has gone out of your daughter. And when she went home, she found the girl lying on the bed, and the devil gone. And again leaving the region of Tyre, he came by way of Sidon to the sea of Galilee, through the middle of the region of Decapolis. And they bring to him a man who was deaf and mute, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. And taking him aside from the crowd, he put his fingers into his ears, and spitting, he touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he groaned and said to him: Ephpheta, which means: Be opened. And immediately his ears were opened, and his tongue was set free, and he spoke plainly. And he ordered them to tell no one. But the more he ordered them, the more they proclaimed it. And they were all the more amazed, saying: He has done all things well. He has made both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.