Mark 7:22

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
adulteries,

King James Version (1611)
Thefts, couetousnesse, wickednesse, deceit, lasciuiousnesse, an euill eye, blasphemie, pride, foolishnesse:

King James Version
Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:

English Standard Version
coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.

New American Standard Bible
deeds of greed, wickedness, deceit, indecent behavior, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.

New Century Version
greed, evil actions, lying, doing sinful things, jealousy, speaking evil of others, pride, and foolish living.

Amplified Bible
acts of greed and covetousness, wickedness, deceit, unrestrained conduct, envy and jealousy, slander and profanity, arrogance and self-righteousness and foolishness (poor judgment).

New American Standard Bible (1995)
deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness.

Legacy Standard Bible
coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.

Berean Standard Bible
greed, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness.

Contemporary English Version
unfaithfulness in marriage, greed, meanness, deceit, indecency, envy, insults, pride, and foolishness.

Complete Jewish Bible
greed, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, arrogance, foolishness….

Darby Translation
thefts, covetousness, wickednesses, deceit, licentiousness, a wicked eye, injurious language, haughtiness, folly;

Easy-to-Read Version
adultery, greed, doing bad things to people, lying, doing things that are morally wrong, jealousy, insulting people, proud talking, and foolish living.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Theftes, couetousnes, wickednes, deceite, vncleannes, a wicked eye, backbiting, pride, foolishnesse.

George Lamsa Translation
Extortion, wickedness, deceit, lust, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness;

Good News Translation
commit adultery, be greedy, and do all sorts of evil things; deceit, indecency, jealousy, slander, pride, and folly—

Lexham English Bible
adulteries, acts of greed, malicious deeds, deceit, licentiousness, envy, abusive speech, pride, foolishness.

Literal Translation
thefts, greedy desires, iniquities, deceit, lustful desires, a wicked eye, blasphemy, pride, recklessness.

American Standard Version
covetings, wickednesses, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, railing, pride, foolishness:

Bible in Basic English
The taking of goods and of life, broken faith between husband and wife, the desire of wealth, wrongdoing, deceit, sins of the flesh, an evil eye, angry words, pride, foolish acts:

Hebrew Names Version
covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness.

International Standard Version
adultery, greed, wickedness, cheating, shameless lust, envy, slander,blasphemy">[fn] arrogance, and foolishness.

Etheridge Translation
rapacity, malice, fraud, obscenity, an evil eye, blasphemy, vain-glory, folly;

Murdock Translation
theft, murder, avarice, malice, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, reviling, haughtiness, folly.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Theft, couetousnes, wickednes, deceit, wantonnes, a wicked eye, blasphemies, pride, foolyshnes.

English Revised Version
covetings, wickednesses, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, railing, pride, foolishness:

World English Bible
covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, envy, evil speaking, pride, foolishness.

Weymouth's New Testament
covetousness, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, reviling, pride, reckless folly:

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
fornycaciouns, mansleyingis, theftis, auaricis, wickidnessis, gile, vnchastite, yuel iye, blasfemyes, pride, foli.

Update Bible Version
greed, wickednesses, deceit, sexual immorality, an evil eye, railing, pride, foolishness:

Webster's Bible Translation
Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness;

New English Translation
adultery, greed, evil, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, and folly.

New King James Version
thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.

New Living Translation
adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.

New Life Bible
stealing, wanting something that belongs to someone else, doing wrong, lying, having a desire for sex sins, having a mind that is always looking for sin, speaking against God, thinking you are better than you are and doing foolish things.

New Revised Standard
adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
murders, adulteries, covetousnesses, knaveries, deceit, wantonness, an evil eye, profane speaking, foolishness, -

Douay-Rheims Bible
Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.

Revised Standard Version
coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
theeft coveteousnes wickednes diceyte vnclennes and a wicked eye blasphemy pryde folysshnes:

Young's Literal Translation
thefts, covetous desires, wickedness, deceit, arrogance, an evil eye, evil speaking, pride, foolishness;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
theft, coueteousnes, wickednes, disceate, vnclennes, a wicked eye, blasphemy, pryde, foolishnes.

Mace New Testament (1729)
avarice, malice, fraud, impudence, envy, scandal, pride, vanity.

Simplified Cowboy Version
greed, deceit, perversion, envy, talking bad about others, gossip, pride, and utter foolishness.

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

covetousness, wickedness: Gr. covetousnesses, wickednesses

an evil: Deuteronomy 15:9, Deuteronomy 28:54, Deuteronomy 28:56, 1 Samuel 18:8, 1 Samuel 18:9, Proverbs 23:6, Proverbs 28:22, Matthew 20:15

pride: 2 Chronicles 32:25, 2 Chronicles 32:26, 2 Chronicles 32:31, Psalms 10:4, Obadiah 1:3, Obadiah 1:4, 2 Corinthians 10:5, 1 Peter 5:5

foolishness: Proverbs 12:23, Proverbs 22:15, Proverbs 24:9, Proverbs 27:22, Ecclesiastes 7:25, 1 Peter 2:15

Reciprocal: 2 Samuel 24:10 - foolishly Job 15:5 - uttereth Job 15:12 - thine heart Psalms 5:9 - inward Psalms 119:36 - and not to Proverbs 12:20 - Deceit Proverbs 21:10 - soul Proverbs 22:9 - He that hath a bountiful eye Isaiah 59:7 - their thoughts Isaiah 59:13 - speaking Jeremiah 17:9 - General Jeremiah 18:12 - we will walk Jeremiah 22:17 - thine eyes Matthew 6:23 - thine Luke 11:34 - but Luke 12:15 - Take Romans 3:10 - none 1 Corinthians 3:3 - and walk Ephesians 2:3 - by Ephesians 5:3 - covetousness Ephesians 5:4 - filthiness Colossians 3:5 - fornication Colossians 3:8 - blasphemy 1 Timothy 1:10 - whoremongers Hebrews 13:5 - conversation James 1:14 - when 1 Peter 4:3 - lasciviousness

Cross-References

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

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Thefts,.... These also are mentioned in Matthew, but Mark omits "false witnesses", and adds the following; which, excepting "blasphemy", are not taken notice of by the other evangelists;

covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness; :-.

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.