Mark Chapter 7
Mark Chapter 7, from the Gospel of Mark, is another terrific chapter for teaching phonics to a child, teenager, or adult.
Jesus was approached by the Pharisees, and some of the scribes, who came from Jerusalem. They observed several of His students eating bread with ritually unclean, i.e., unwashed, hands, and used that to criticize Jesus. The reason for this was that the Pharisees, along with all the other Jews, had a tradition never to eat unless they had washed their hands. When they came from the public square, they did not eat unless they had washed first. They retained many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pots, kettles, and tables.Then the Pharisees and the scribes asked Jesus, "Why don't your students follow the traditions of the elders, instead of eating bread with unwashed hands?" He responded to them, "Isaiah had you hypocrites dead to rights, when he wrote: 'These people speak respectful words to Me, by their hearts are not with Me. They worship Me in vain, and their teachings are nothing more than rules made by men.'
|8 |For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. |After turning away from the law of God, you cling to the rules of mere men. |The Byzantine manuscripts add the details about the cup and pot-washing regulations, but those are probably redundant interpolations. |- |9 |And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. |Isaiah also told them, 'You turn your backs on the commandment of God, in order to cling to your own customs.' |Clarify the reference to Isaiah, which is ambiguous in most translations. |- |10 |For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: |For example: Moses said, 'Honor your father and mother; and whoever curses his father or mother should receive the death penalty'; |should outer quotations be added? Use the "death penalty" |- |11 |But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. |But you allow a man to say to his father or mother, 'Whatever help I might have given you was instead given to God as a temple offering,' |difficult to translate; more improvement welcome; issue of outside quotations remains; Corban replaced by "temple offering" |- |12 |And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; |and excused him from helping his father or mother any further. |The Greek phrase means "permit not to do" rather than "not permit to do." Thus, "excuse" is correct. |- |13 |Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye. |"You have made God's word and law useless with your tradition of revision, and many other actions like it." | |- |14 |And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand: |When Jesus had called the people together around him, he said, "Listen to me, each of you, and know the truth." | |- |15 |There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man. |"Nothing outside a man can enter him and corrupt him. Instead, that which comes from within can corrupt him." |Interesting as this is also a doctrine in Plato (see the apology). Was he inspired by God, or perhaps did Jesus know earlier doctrines? |- |16 |If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. |"So if anyone wishes to know the truth, let him listen." |"ears to hear" denotes the open minded listener |- |17 |And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable. |Afterward, when he had left the people and entered the house, His students asked Him about the parable. | |- |18 |And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; |To this he responded, "Are you also so ignorant? Don't you see that anything which enters a man from outside cannot corrupt him," | |- |19 |Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? |"Because it enters his stomach, not his heart, and then is eliminated?" |Literally, "gets thrown down the toilet." Notice that the rationale for this exemption for unclean foods does not include vaccination. |- |20 |And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. |To this he added, "Anything that comes out of a man, it is that which corrupts him." | |- |21 |For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, |"Because, from inside of the heart come evil thoughts, adultery, fornication, murder," | |- |22 |Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: |"theft, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lustfulness, an evil eye, blasphemy, uncontrolled pride, and foolishness." | |- |23 |All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. |"All of these wicked things come from inside a man and corrupt him." | |- |24 |And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid. |Then He left that place, and traveled to the borders of Tyre and Sidon. He wanted to keep the place where He was staying a secret, but He had become so well-known that this was impossible. |The Greek verb θελω (thelo) means "I want to do something." The "I will" construct is obsolete. |- |25 |For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: |A woman whose daughter had been possessed by a demon heard the news of Him, came to Him and fell down before Him. | |- |26 |The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. |She was Greek, a Syrophenician, and begged that he would throw the demon out of her daughter. | |- |27 |But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. |Jesus replied to her, "The children must first be fed, for it is wrong to take their bread and give it to the puppies." |The Greek word means "puppies", and it is overly harsh against Gentiles to translate it as "dogs". |- |28 |And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. |To this she answered, "Yes, Lord, but the puppies under the table can eat the children's crumbs." |see prior comment above |- |29 |And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. |So Jesus replied, "Go on your way; you have proved your faith, and the demon has been cast out of your daughter." | |- |30 |And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed. |When she returned to her home, she found that her daughter was lying upon her bed and Satan had left her. | |- |31 |And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. |Leaving the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, Jesus reached Lake Tiberias, among the coasts of Decapolis. |Sea->lake as per previous instances |- |32 |And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. |The people brought him a deaf man with a speech impediment, praying that he would lay hands upon him. |Some deaf people do try to speak, but because they cannot hear themselves talk, their speech is sometimes difficult for a hearing person to understand. |- |33 |And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; |Jesus took him away privately from the crowd. He put his fingers into the man's ears, spit, then touched his tongue. | |- |34 |And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. |Looking up to heaven, he sighed and said, "Ephphatha," which means "be opened." | |- |35 |And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. |The man's ears were immediately opened, and the muscles of his tongue healed, letting him speak clearly and understandably. | |- |36 |And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it; |Jesus ordered the people not to tell this story, but the more he ordered this, the more they spread the news. | |- |37 |And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak. |They were completely blown away, and said, "He has wielded great power in all things. He makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak."