Mark

¹The Pharisees and some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus.

²They saw some of his disciples eating food with hands they considered ceremonially unclean — that is, unwashed.

³(The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they first wash their hands in the traditional way, holding to the tradition of the elders.

⁴When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they hold to many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.)

⁵So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him: "Why don't your disciples follow the tradition of the elders instead of eating food with unclean hands?"

⁶He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. As it is written: 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.'"

⁷"'Their worship is meaningless, for they teach as doctrine the commands of men.'"

⁸"You have abandoned the commandment of God and are holding to human tradition, like the washing of pots and cups. You do many other things like that."

⁹He also said to them, "You cleverly set aside the commandment of God in order to maintain your own tradition."

¹⁰"For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.'"

¹¹"But you say that if a man tells his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might have received from me is Corban' (that is, devoted to God) —"

¹²"then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother."

¹³"You nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have passed down. And you do many things like that."

¹⁴Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this."

¹⁵"Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them."

¹⁶"If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."

¹⁷After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable.

¹⁸"Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them?"

¹⁹"Because it does not go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body." In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.

²⁰He went on to say, "What comes out of a person is what defiles them."

²¹"For it is from within, out of a person's heart, that evil thoughts come — sexual immorality, theft, murder,"

²²"adultery, greed, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, arrogance and folly."

²³"All these evils come from inside and defile a person."

²⁴Jesus left that place and went to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there, but he could not keep his presence secret.

²⁵In fact, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him and came and fell at his feet.

²⁶The woman was a Gentile, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷"First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs."

²⁸"Lord," she replied, "even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."

²⁹Then he told her, "For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter."

³⁰She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

³¹Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis.

³²There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.

³³After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man's ears. Then he spat and touched the man's tongue.

³⁴He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphatha!" (which means "Be opened!").

³⁵At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he began to speak plainly.

³⁶Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it.

³⁷People were overwhelmed with amazement. "He has done everything well," they said. "He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."