Mark 7:21

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities,

King James Version (1611)
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed euill thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

King James Version
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

English Standard Version
For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,

New American Standard Bible
"For from within, out of the hearts of people, come the evil thoughts, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, murders, acts of adultery,

New Century Version
All these evil things begin inside people, in the mind: evil thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder, adultery,

Amplified Bible
"For from within, [that is] out of the heart of men, come base and malevolent thoughts and schemes, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, murders, adulteries,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,

Legacy Standard Bible
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries,

Berean Standard Bible
For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,

Contemporary English Version
Out of your heart come evil thoughts, vulgar deeds, stealing, murder,

Complete Jewish Bible
For from within, out of a person's heart, come forth wicked thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,

Darby Translation
For from within, out of the heart of men, go forth evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

Easy-to-Read Version
All these bad things begin inside a person, in the mind: bad thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder,

Geneva Bible (1587)
For from within, euen out of the heart of men, proceede euill thoughtes, adulteries, fornications, murthers,

George Lamsa Translation
For from within, from the heart of men go out evil thoughts, such as fornication, adultery, theft, murder,

Good News Translation
For from the inside, from your heart, come the evil ideas which lead you to do immoral things, to rob, kill,

Lexham English Bible
For from within, from the heart of people, come evil plans, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders,

Literal Translation
For from within, out of the heart of men, pass out the evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

American Standard Version
For from within, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,

Bible in Basic English
Because from inside, from the heart of men, come evil thoughts and unclean pleasures,

Hebrew Names Version
For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts,

International Standard Version
For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil thoughts come, as well as sexual immorality, stealing, murder,Genesis 6:5; 8:21; Matthew 15:19;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
For from within, from the heart of the sons of men, go forth evil thoughts, adultery, fornication, robbery, murder,

Murdock Translation
For from within, from the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adultery, whoredom,

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For from within, euen out of the heart of men, proceade euyll thoughtes, adulterie, fornication, murther,

English Revised Version
For from within, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,

World English Bible
For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts,

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
For from within, out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

Weymouth's New Testament
For from within, out of men's hearts, their evil purposes proceed--fornication, theft, murder, adultery,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For fro with ynne, of the herte of men comen forth yuel thouytis, auowtries,

Update Bible Version
For from inside, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,

Webster's Bible Translation
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

New English Translation
For from within, out of the human heart, come evil ideas, sexual immorality, theft, murder,

New King James Version
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

New Living Translation
For from within, out of a person's heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder,

New Life Bible
From the inside, out of the heart of men come bad thoughts, sex sins of a married person, sex sins of a person not married, killing other people,

New Revised Standard
For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For, from within, out of the heart of men, the base designs, come forth, - fornications, thefts,

Douay-Rheims Bible
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

Revised Standard Version
For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery,

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
For fro wt in even oute of the herte of men proceade evill thoughtes: advantry fornicacion murder

Young's Literal Translation
for from within, out of the heart of men, the evil reasonings do come forth, adulteries, whoredoms, murders,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
that defyleth the man. For from within out of the hert of man proceade euell thoughtes, aduoutrye, whordome, murthur,

Mace New Testament (1729)
for from within, from the heart of man proceed wicked designs, adulteries, fornications, murders; thefts,

Simplified Cowboy Version
From the heart comes evil desires, all sorts of gross sexual ideas, theft, killing, cheating on your spouse,

Contextual Overview

¹The Pharisees, along with some religion scholars who had come from Jerusalem, gathered around him. They noticed that some of his disciples weren't being careful with ritual washings before meals. The Pharisees—Jews in general, in fact—would never eat a meal without going through the motions of a ritual hand-washing, with an especially vigorous scrubbing if they had just come from the market (to say nothing of the scourings they'd give jugs and pots and pans). ⁵ The Pharisees and religion scholars asked, "Why do your disciples flout the rules, showing up at meals without washing their hands?" ⁶Jesus answered, "Isaiah was right about frauds like you, hit the bull's-eye in fact: These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their heart isn't in it. They act like they are worshiping me, but they don't mean it. They just use me as a cover for teaching whatever suits their fancy, Ditching God's command and taking up the latest fads." ⁹He went on, "Well, good for you. You get rid of God's command so you won't be inconvenienced in following the religious fashions! Moses said, ‘Respect your father and mother,' and, ‘Anyone denouncing father or mother should be killed.' But you weasel out of that by saying that it's perfectly acceptable to say to father or mother, ‘Gift! What I owed you I've given as a gift to God,' thus relieving yourselves of obligation to father or mother. You scratch out God's Word and scrawl a whim in its place. You do a lot of things like this." ¹⁴Jesus called the crowd together again and said, "Listen now, all of you—take this to heart. It's not what you swallow that pollutes your life; it's what you vomit—that's the real pollution." When he was back home after being with the crowd, his disciples said, "We don't get it. Put it in plain language." Jesus said, "Are you being willfully stupid? Don't you see that what you swallow can't contaminate you? It doesn't enter your heart but your stomach, works its way through the intestines, and is finally flushed." (That took care of dietary quibbling; Jesus was saying that all foods are fit to eat.) He went on: "It's what comes out of a person that pollutes: obscenities, lusts, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, depravity, deceptive dealings, carousing, mean looks, slander, arrogance, foolishness—all these are vomit from the heart. There is the source of your pollution." From there Jesus set out for the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house there where he didn't think he would be found, but he couldn't escape notice. He was barely inside when a woman who had a disturbed daughter heard where he was. She came and knelt at his feet, begging for help. The woman was Greek, Syro-Phoenician by birth. She asked him to cure her daughter. He said, "Stand in line and take your turn. The children get fed first. If there's any left over, the dogs get it." She said, "Of course, Master. But don't dogs under the table get scraps dropped by the children?" Jesus was impressed. "You're right! On your way! Your daughter is no longer disturbed. The demonic affliction is gone." She went home and found her daughter relaxed on the bed, the torment gone for good. Then he left the region of Tyre, went through Sidon back to Galilee Lake and over to the district of the Ten Towns. Some people brought a man who could neither hear nor speak and asked Jesus to lay a healing hand on him. He took the man off by himself, put his fingers in the man's ears and some spit on the man's tongue. Then Jesus looked up in prayer, groaned mightily, and commanded, "Ephphatha!—Open up!" And it happened. The man's hearing was clear and his speech plain—just like that. Jesus urged them to keep it quiet, but they talked it up all the more, beside themselves with excitement. "He's done it all and done it well. He gives hearing to the deaf, speech to the speechless." ¹⁶The Source of Your Pollution The Pharisees, along with some religion scholars who had come from Jerusalem, gathered around him. They noticed that some of his disciples weren't being careful with ritual washings before meals. The Pharisees—Jews in general, in fact—would never eat a meal without going through the motions of a ritual hand-washing, with an especially vigorous scrubbing if they had just come from the market (to say nothing of the scourings they'd give jugs and pots and pans). The Pharisees and religion scholars asked, "Why do your disciples flout the rules, showing up at meals without washing their hands?" Jesus answered, "Isaiah was right about frauds like you, hit the bull's-eye in fact: These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their heart isn't in it. They act like they are worshiping me, but they don't mean it. They just use me as a cover for teaching whatever suits their fancy, Ditching God's command and taking up the latest fads." He went on, "Well, good for you. You get rid of God's command so you won't be inconvenienced in following the religious fashions! Moses said, ‘Respect your father and mother,' and, ‘Anyone denouncing father or mother should be killed.' But you weasel out of that by saying that it's perfectly acceptable to say to father or mother, ‘Gift! What I owed you I've given as a gift to God,' thus relieving yourselves of obligation to father or mother. You scratch out God's Word and scrawl a whim in its place. You do a lot of things like this." Jesus called the crowd together again and said, "Listen now, all of you—take this to heart. It's not what you swallow that pollutes your life; it's what you vomit—that's the real pollution." ¹⁷ When he was back home after being with the crowd, his disciples said, "We don't get it. Put it in plain language." ¹⁸Jesus said, "Are you being willfully stupid? Don't you see that what you swallow can't contaminate you? It doesn't enter your heart but your stomach, works its way through the intestines, and is finally flushed." (That took care of dietary quibbling; Jesus was saying that all foods are fit to eat.) ²⁰He went on: "It's what comes out of a person that pollutes: obscenities, lusts, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, depravity, deceptive dealings, carousing, mean looks, slander, arrogance, foolishness—all these are vomit from the heart. There is the source of your pollution."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

out: Genesis 6:5, Genesis 8:21, Job 14:4, Job 15:14-16, Job 25:4, Psalms 14:1, Psalms 14:3, Psalms 53:1, Psalms 53:3, Psalms 58:2, Psalms 58:3, Proverbs 4:23, Jeremiah 4:14, Jeremiah 17:9, Matthew 15:19, Matthew 23:25-28, Luke 16:15, Acts 5:4, Acts 8:22, Romans 7:5, Romans 7:8, Romans 8:7, Romans 8:8, Galatians 5:19-21, Titus 3:3, James 1:14, James 1:15, James 4:1-3, 1 Peter 4:2, 1 Peter 4:3

evil: Proverbs 15:25, Isaiah 59:7, Ezekiel 38:10, Matthew 9:4, James 2:4

Reciprocal: Numbers 19:22 - the soul Deuteronomy 15:9 - Beware Job 1:5 - in their hearts Job 15:5 - uttereth Job 15:12 - thine heart Psalms 5:9 - inward Psalms 10:4 - thoughts Psalms 119:36 - and not to Psalms 119:113 - hate Proverbs 12:20 - Deceit Proverbs 21:10 - soul Proverbs 27:19 - so Proverbs 28:26 - that Ecclesiastes 9:3 - also Isaiah 55:7 - his thoughts Isaiah 59:13 - speaking Jeremiah 16:12 - evil Jeremiah 18:12 - we will walk Jeremiah 22:17 - thine eyes Ezekiel 11:21 - whose Zechariah 7:10 - imagine Matthew 3:9 - think Matthew 9:3 - certain Matthew 23:28 - but Matthew 24:48 - say Mark 2:8 - Why Luke 7:39 - he spake Romans 3:10 - none Romans 7:18 - that in me 1 Corinthians 3:3 - and walk 1 Corinthians 5:11 - or covetous Ephesians 2:3 - by Ephesians 5:3 - fornication Colossians 3:5 - fornication 1 Timothy 1:10 - whoremongers Hebrews 3:12 - an Hebrews 12:16 - any fornicator

Cross-References

Genesis 6:13
God said to Noah, "It's all over. It's the end of the human race. The violence is everywhere; I'm making a clean sweep.

Genesis 6:17
"I'm going to bring a flood on the Earth that will destroy everything alive under Heaven. Total destruction.

Genesis 7:6
Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters covered the Earth. Noah and his wife and sons and their wives boarded the ship to escape the flood. Clean and unclean animals, birds, and all the crawling creatures came in pairs to Noah and to the ship, male and female, just as God had commanded Noah. In seven days the floodwaters came.

Genesis 7:17
The flood continued forty days and the waters rose and lifted the ship high over the Earth. The waters kept rising, the flood deepened on the Earth, the ship floated on the surface. The flood got worse until all the highest mountains were covered—the high-water mark reached twenty feet above the crest of the mountains. Everything died. Anything that moved—dead. Birds, farm animals, wild animals, the entire teeming exuberance of life—dead. And all people—dead. Every living, breathing creature that lived on dry land died; he wiped out the whole works—people and animals, crawling creatures and flying birds, every last one of them, gone. Only Noah and his company on the ship lived.

Isaiah 24:19
The Landscape Will Be a Moonscape Danger ahead! God 's about to ravish the earth and leave it in ruins, Rip everything out by the roots and send everyone scurrying: priests and laypeople alike, owners and workers alike, celebrities and nobodies alike, buyers and sellers alike, bankers and beggars alike, the haves and have-nots alike. The landscape will be a moonscape, totally wasted. And why? Because God says so. He's issued the orders. The earth turns gaunt and gray, the world silent and sad, sky and land lifeless, colorless. Earth is polluted by its very own people, who have broken its laws, Disrupted its order, violated the sacred and eternal covenant. Therefore a curse, like a cancer, ravages the earth. Its people pay the price of their sacrilege. They dwindle away, dying out one by one. No more wine, no more vineyards, no more songs or singers. The laughter of castanets is gone, the shouts of celebrants, gone, the laughter of fiddles, gone. No more parties with toasts of champagne. Serious drinkers gag on their drinks. The chaotic cities are unlivable. Anarchy reigns. Every house is boarded up, condemned. People riot in the streets for wine, but the good times are gone forever— no more joy for this old world. The city is dead and deserted, bulldozed into piles of rubble. That's the way it will be on this earth. This is the fate of all nations: An olive tree shaken clean of its olives, a grapevine picked clean of its grapes. But there are some who will break into glad song. Out of the west they'll shout of God 's majesty. Yes, from the east God 's glory will ascend. Every island of the sea Will broadcast God 's fame, the fame of the God of Israel. From the four winds and the seven seas we hear the singing: "All praise to the Righteous One!" But I said, "That's all well and good for somebody, but all I can see is doom, doom, and more doom." All of them at one another's throats, yes, all of them at one another's throats. Terror and pits and booby traps are everywhere, whoever you are. If you run from the terror, you'll fall into the pit. If you climb out of the pit, you'll get caught in the trap. Chaos pours out of the skies. The foundations of earth are crumbling. Earth is smashed to pieces, earth is ripped to shreds, earth is wobbling out of control, Earth staggers like a drunk, sways like a shack in a high wind. Its piled-up sins are too much for it. It collapses and won't get up again. That's when God will call on the carpet rebel powers in the skies and Rebel kings on earth. They'll be rounded up like prisoners in a jail, Corralled and locked up in a jail, and then sentenced and put to hard labor. Shamefaced moon will cower, humiliated, red-faced sun will skulk, disgraced, Because God -of-the-Angel-Armies will take over, ruling from Mount Zion and Jerusalem, Splendid and glorious before all his leaders.

Zephaniah 1:3
"Men and women and animals, including birds and fish— Anything and everything that causes sin—will go, but especially people.

Romans 8:22
All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For from within, out of the heart of man,.... The inside of man is very bad, his inward part is not only wicked, but wickedness itself, yea, very wickedness, Psalms 5:9, in him dwells no good thing naturally, his heart is wicked, and desperately so; it is full of evil; and out of the abundance of it, proceed the evil things hereafter mentioned; all its powers and faculties are vitiated, there is no place clean; the understanding and judgment are dreadfully corrupted; the mind and conscience are defiled; the affections are inordinate; not only the thought, but every imagination of the thought of the heart is evil, and that continually: what good thing therefore, can come out of such a Nazareth as this? Nothing, but what follows: for from hence

proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders; which several things are related in Mt. 15:19 see the note on "Mt 15:19"; only the order here is a little different; "murders", which are here mentioned last, are there put after "evil thoughts".

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See this passage explained in the notes at Matthew 15:1-20.

Mark 7:1

Came from Jerusalem - Probably to observe his conduct, and to find matter of accusation against him.

Mark 7:2

Defiled hands - The hands were considered defiled or polluted unless they were washed previous to every meal.

Mark 7:3

Except they wash their hands oft - Our word “oft” means frequently, often. The Greek wore translated oft has been rendered various ways. Some have said that it means “up to the wrist” - unless they wash their hands up to the wrist. Others have said up to the elbow.” There is evidence that the Pharisees had some such foolish rule as this about washing, and it is likely that they practiced it faithfully. But the Greek Word πυγμή pugmē - means properly the “fist,” and the meaning here is, “Unless they wash their hands (rubbing them) with the fist” - that is, not merely dipping the finger or hands in water as a sign of ablution, but rubbing the hands together as a ball or fist, in the usual Oriental manner when water is poured over them. Hence, the phrase comes to mean “diligently, carefully, sedulously.” - Robinson, Lexicon. The idea is, unless they pay the utmost attention to it, and do it carefully and according to rule.

The tradition - What had been handed down; not what was delivered “by writing” in the law of Moses, but what had been communicated from father to son as being proper and binding.

The elders - The ancients; not the old men “then living,” but those who had lived formerly.

Mark 7:4

Market - This word means either the place where provisions were sold, or the place where men were convened for any purpose. Here it probably means the former.

Except they wash - In the original, “Except they baptize.” In this place it does not mean to immerse the whole body, but only the hands. There is no evidence that the Jews washed their “whole bodies” every time they came from market. It is probable that they often washed with the use of a very small quantity of water.

The washing of cups - In the Greek, “the baptism of cups.”

Cups - drinking vessels. Those used at their meals.

Pots - Measures of “liquids.” Vessels made of wood, used to hold wine, vinegar, etc.

brazen vessels - Vessels made of brass, used in cooking or otherwise. These, if much polluted, were commonly passed through the fire: if slightly polluted they were washed. Earthen vessels, if defiled, were usually broken.

Tables - This word means, in the original, “beds or couches.” It refers not to the “tables” on which they ate, but to the “couches” on which they reclined at their meals. See the notes at Matthew 23:6. These were supposed to be defiled when any unclean or polluted person had reclined on them, and they deemed it necessary to purify them with water. The word “baptism” is here used - in the original, “the baptism of tables;” but, since it cannot be supposed that “couches” were entirely “immersed” in water, the word “baptism” here must denote some other application of water, by sprinkling or otherwise, and shows that the term is used in the sense of washing in any way. If the word is used here, as is clear it is, to denote anything except entire immersion, it may be elsewhere, and baptism is lawfully performed, therefore, without immersing the whole body in water.

Mark 7:7

For doctrines - For commands of God binding on the conscience. Imposing “your” traditions as equal in authority to the laws of God.

Mark 7:8

Laying aside - Rejecting, or making, it give place to traditions; considering the traditions as superior in authority to the divine law. This was the uniform doctrine of the Pharisees. See the notes at Matthew 15:1-9.

The tradition of men - What has been handed down by human beings, or what rests solely on their authority.

Mark 7:9

Full well - These words are capable of different interpretations. Some read them as a question: “Do ye do well in rejecting?” etc. Others suppose they mean “skillfully, cunningly.” “You show great cunning or art, in laying aside God’s commands and substituting in their place those of men.” Others suppose them to be ironical. “How nobly you act! From conscientious attachment to your traditions you have made void the law of God;” meaning to intimate by it that they had acted wickedly and basely.

Mark 7:17

The parable - The “obscure” and difficult remarks which he had made in Mark 7:15. The word “parable,” here, means “obscure” and “difficult saying.” They could not understand it. They had probably imbibed many of the popular notions of the Pharisees, and they could not understand why a man was not defiled by external things. It was, moreover, a doctrine of the law that men were ceremonially polluted by contact with dead bodies, etc., and they could not understand how it could be otherwise.

Mark 7:18

Cannot defile him - Cannot render his “soul” polluted; cannot make him a “sinner” so as to need this purifying as a “religious” observance.

Mark 7:19

Entereth not into his heart - Does not reach or affect the “mind,” the “soul,” and consequently cannot pollute it. Even if it should affect the “body,” yet it cannot the “soul,” and consequently cannot need to be cleansed by a religious ordinance. The notions of the Pharisees, therefore, are not founded in reason, but are mere “superstition.”

The draught - The sink, the vault. “Purging all meats.” The word “purging,” here, means to purify, to cleanse. What is thrown out of the body is the innutritious part of the food taken into the stomach, and leaving only that which is proper for the support of life; and it cannot, therefore, defile the soul.

All meals - All food; all that is taken into the body to support life. The meaning is, that the economy or process by which life is supported “purifies” or “renders nutritious” all kinds of food. The unwholesome or innutritious parts are separated, and the wholesome only are taken into the system. This agrees with all that has since been discovered of the process of digestion and of the support of life. The food taken into the stomach is by the gastric juice converted into a thick pulp called chyme. The nutritious part of this is conveyed into small vessels, and changed into a milky substance called “chyle.” This is poured by the thoracic duct into the left subclavian vein and mingles with the blood, and conveys nutriment and support to all parts of the system. The useless parts of the food are thrown off.

Mark 7:20

Hat which cometh out of the man - His words; the expression of his thoughts and feelings; his conduct, as the development of inward malice, anger, covetousness, lust, etc.

Defileth the man - Makes him really polluted or offensive in the sight of God. This renders the soul corrupt and abominable in his sight. See Matthew 15:18-20.