# Mark 7 (New King James Version)
Defilement Comes from Within

##### Chapter 7
###### 1 Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to Him, having come from Jerusalem.  
###### 2 Now when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault.  
###### 3 For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash _their_ hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders.  
###### 4 _When they come_ from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold, _like_ the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches.

###### 5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?"

###### 6 He answered and said to 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.**  

###### 7 **And in vain they worship Me,**  
**Teaching _as_ doctrines the commandments of men.'**

###### 8 **For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men--****the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do."**

###### 9 He said to them, **"_All too_ well** **you** **reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.**  
###### 10 **For Moses said,** **'Honor your father and your mother'; and,** **'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.'**  
###### 11 **But you say, 'If a man says to his father or mother,** **"Whatever profit you might have received from me _is_ Corban"--' (that is, a gift _to God_),**  
###### 12 **then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother,**  
###### 13 **making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do."**

###### 14 When He had called all the multitude to _Himself,_ He said to them, **"Hear Me, everyone, and** **understand:**  
###### 15 **There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that** **defile a man.**  
###### 16 **If** **anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!"**

###### 17 When He had entered a house away from the crowd, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable.  
###### 18 So He said to them, **"Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him,**  
###### 19 **because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated,** **_thus_ purifying all foods?"**  
###### 20 And He said, **"What comes out of a man, that defiles a man.**  
###### 21 **For from within, out of the heart of men,** **proceed evil thoughts,** **adulteries,** **fornications, murders,**  
###### 22 **thefts,** **covetousness, wickedness,** **deceit,** **lewdness, an evil eye,** **blasphemy,** **pride, foolishness.**  
###### 23 **All these evil things come from within and defile a man."**A Gentile Shows Her Faith

###### 24 From there He arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered a house and wanted no one to know _it,_ but He could not be hidden.  
###### 25 For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet.  
###### 26 The woman was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.  
###### 27 But Jesus 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 little dogs."**

###### 28 And she answered and said to Him, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs."

###### 29 Then He said to her, **"For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter."**

###### 30 And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed.Jesus Heals a Deaf-Mute

###### 31 Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee.  
###### 32 Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him.  
###### 33 And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue.  
###### 34 Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, **"Ephphatha,"** that is, **"Be opened."**

###### 35 Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly.  
###### 36 Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed _it._  
###### 37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."