Mark 7:5–15

⁵The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the ^atradition of the elders, but eat their bread with ^bimpure hands?”

⁶And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

‘^aThis people honors Me with their lips,

But their heart is far away from Me.

⁷‘^aBut in vain do they worship Me,

Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’

⁸“Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the ^atradition of men.”

⁹He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your ^atradition.

¹⁰“For Moses said, ‘^aHonor your father and your mother’; and, ‘^bHe who speaks evil of father or mother, is to ¹be put to death’;

¹¹but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is ^aCorban (that is to say, ¹given to God),’

¹²you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother;

¹³thus invalidating the word of God by your ^atradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”

The Heart of Man

¹⁴After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand:

¹⁵there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man.