Mark 7:5-13

7:5 The Pharisees and the experts in the law asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat ¹  with unwashed hands?” 7:6 He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written:

‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart ²  is far from me.

7:7 They worship me in vain,

teaching as doctrine the commandments of men.’ ³ 

7:8 Having no regard ⁴  for the command of God, you hold fast to human tradition.” ⁵  7:9 He also said to them, “You neatly reject the commandment of God in order to set up ⁶  your tradition. 7:10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ ⁷  and, ‘Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.’ ⁸  7:11 But you say that if anyone tells his father or mother, ‘Whatever help you would have received from me is corban’ ⁹  (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 ¹⁰  the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like this.”

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¹ tn Grk “eat bread.”

² tn The term “heart” is a collective singular in the Greek text.

³ sn A quotation from Isa 29:13.

⁴ tn Grk “Having left the command.”

⁵ tc The majority of mss, mostly Byzantine ([A] ˹³ 33 Ï), have at the end of v. 8 material that seems to have come from v. 4 and v. 13: “the washing of pots and cups, and you do many other similar things.” A slight variation on the wording occurs at the very beginning of v. 8 in mostly Western witnesses (D Θ 0131^vid 28 565 it). Such floating texts are usually signs of scribal emendations. The fact that the earliest and most reliable mss, as well as other important witnesses (Ì⁴⁵ א B L W Δ 0274 ˹ 2427 co), lacked this material also strongly suggests that the longer reading is secondary.

⁶ tc The translation here follows the reading στήσητε (sthshte, “set up”) found in D W Θ Ë¹ 28 565 2542 it sy^s,p Cyp. The majority of mss here read τηρήσητε (thrhsete; א A L ˹³ 33 Ï co) or τηρῆτε (thrhte; B 2427), both translated “keep.” It is hard to know which reading is best: On the one hand, τηρήσητε/τηρῆτε has much stronger external support, but στήσητε is a more difficult reading. What makes “keep” suspect is that it appears in two different forms, suggesting independent alterations of a difficult reading. Further, scribes may have been influenced by the preceding “commandment of God” to change the text toward “keep” (TCGNT 81), a common enough expression (cf. Matt 19:17; John 14:15; 1 Tim 6:1; 1 John 5:3; Rev 14:12). Thus, the more difficult reading is “set up.” Also, the more natural opposite of “reject” (ἀθεῖτε [aqeite], literally “you set aside”) is “set up.” However, the Western reading may have been influenced by Exod 6:4 or Heb 10:9, but this likelihood seems remote. Thus, “set up” is more likely to be the original wording of Mark here.

⁷ sn A quotation from Exod 20:12; Deut 5:16.

⁸ sn A quotation from Exod 21:17; Lev 20:9.

⁹ 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).

¹⁰ tn Grk “nullifying.” This participle shows the results of the Pharisees’ command.