Bible Text: June 3, 2007

 

Mark 7

Traditions and Commandments

 1Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3(For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash^[a] their hands, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash.^[b] And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.^[c]) 5And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?" 6And he 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;
   7in vain do they worship me,
   teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'
   

 8You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men."

   

 9And he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.' 11But you say, 'If a man tells his father or his mother, Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban' (that is, given to God)^[d]-- 12then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do."

   

Footnotes:

1. Mark 7:3 Greek unless they wash with a fist, probably indicating a kind of ceremonial washing
2. Mark 7:4 Greek unless they baptize; some manuscripts unless they purify themselves
3. Mark 7:4 Some manuscripts omit and dining couches
4. Mark 7:11 Or an offering