Mar 7:14-23 | NETfull | STEP | Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand.

Mark 7:14-23

14 Then ^{▼▼ Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.} he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand. 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.” ^{▼▼ Most later mss add 7:16 “Let anyone with ears to hear, listen.” This verse is included in A D W Θ f^{1, 13} 33 Maj. 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.}

17 Now ^{▼▼ Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.} when Jesus ^{▼▼ Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.} had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 He said to them, “Are you so foolish? Don’t you understand that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him? 19 For it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and then goes out into the sewer.” ^{▼▼ Or “into the latrine.”} (This means all foods are clean.) ^{▼▼ This is a parenthetical note by the author.} 20 He said, “What comes out of a person defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the human heart, come evil ideas, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, evil, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, and folly. 23 All these evils come from within and defile a person.”