Mark 7:10-23

7:10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ 1  and, ‘Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.’ 2  7:11 But you say that if anyone tells his father or mother, ‘Whatever help you would have received from me is corban’ 3  (that is, a gift for God), 7:12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother. 7:13 Thus you nullify 4  the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like this.”

7:14 Then 5  he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand. 7:15 There is nothing outside of a person that can defile him by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles him.”

7:16 [[EMPTY]] 6 

7:17 Now 7  when Jesus 8  had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. 7:18 He said to them, “Are you so foolish? Don’t you understand that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him? 7:19 For it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and then goes out into the sewer.” 9  (This means all foods are clean.) 10  7:20 He said, “What comes out of a person defiles him. 7:21 For from within, out of the human heart, come evil ideas, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 7:22 adultery, greed, evil, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, and folly. 7:23 All these evils come from within and defile a person.”

1 sn A quotation from Exod 20:12; Deut 5:16.

2 sn A quotation from Exod 21:17; Lev 20:9.

3 sn Corban is a Hebrew loanword (transliterated in the Greek text and in most modern English translations) referring to something that has been set aside as a gift to be given to God at some later date, but which is still in the possession of the owner (L&N 53.22). According to contemporary Jewish tradition the person who made this claim was absolved from responsibility to support or assist his parents, a clear violation of the Mosaic law to honor one’s parents (v. 10).

4 tn Grk “nullifying.” This participle shows the results of the Pharisees’ command.

5 tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

6 tc Most later mss add 7:16 “Let anyone with ears to hear, listen.” This verse is included in A D W Θ Ë1,13 33 Ï latt sy, but is lacking in important Alexandrian mss and a few others (א B L Δ* 0274 28 2427). It appears to be a scribal gloss (see 4:9 and 4:23), perhaps introduced as a reiteration of the thought in 7:14, and is almost certainly not an original part of the Greek text of Mark. The present translation follows NA27 in omitting the verse number, a procedure also followed by a number of other modern translations.

7 tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

8 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

9 tn Or “into the latrine.”

10 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.