Mark 7:14–37

¹⁴Summoning^an the crowd again, he told them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand:^{ao 15}Nothing that goes into a person from outside can defile him but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”

¹⁷When he went into the house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable. ¹⁸He said to them, “Are you also as lacking in understanding? Don’t you realize that nothing going into a person from the outside can defile him? ¹⁹For it doesn’t go into his heart but into the stomach^ap and is eliminated” (thus he declared all foods clean^Kaq). ²⁰And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. ²¹For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities,^ar thefts, murders,^{as 22}adulteries,^at greed,^au evil actions, deceit,^av self-indulgence,^aw envy,^B slander,^ax pride,^ay and foolishness.^{az 23}All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”

A GENTILE MOTHER’S FAITH

²⁴He got up and departed from^ba there to the region of Tyre.^Cbb He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it, but he could not escape notice. ²⁵Instead, immediately after hearing about him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit^a came and fell at his feet.^{b 26}The woman was a Gentile,^Dc a Syrophoenician by birth, and she was asking him to cast the demon^d out of her daughter. ²⁷He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, because it isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”^e

²⁸But she replied to him, “Lord,^f even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹Then he told her, “Because of this reply, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.” ³⁰When she went back to her home, she found her child lying on the bed, and the demon was gone.

JESUS DOES EVERYTHING WELL

³¹Again, leaving the region of Tyre,^g he went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,^h through^E the region of the Decapolis.^{i 32}They brought to him a deaf^j man who had difficulty speaking^k and begged Jesus to lay his hand on^l him. ³³So he took him away from the crowd in private. After putting his fingers in the man’s ears and spitting,^m he touched his tongue. ³⁴Looking up to heaven,ⁿ he sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphatha!”^F (that is, “Be opened!”). ³⁵Immediately his ears were opened,^o his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak clearly.^{p 36}He ordered them to tell no one,^q but the more he ordered them, the more they proclaimed it.^r

³⁷They were extremely astonished and said, “He has done everything well.^s He even makes the deaf^t hear and the mute speak.”^u