Mark 7:14–37

What Defiles a Person

¹⁴And he called the people to him again and said to them, ^e“Hear me, all of you, and understand: ^15fThere is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”^{5 17}And when he had entered ^gthe house and left the people, ^hhis disciples asked him about the parable. ¹⁸And he said to them, “Then ⁱare you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹since it enters not his heart ^jbut his stomach, and is expelled?”⁶ (^kThus he declared all foods clean.) ²⁰And he said, ^l“What comes out of a person is what defiles him. ²¹For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, ^mmurder, adultery, ²²coveting, wickedness, deceit, ⁿsensuality, ^oenvy, ^pslander, ^qpride, ^rfoolishness. ^23sAll these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

The Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith

²⁴And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon.⁷ And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. ²⁵But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. ^26tNow the woman was a ^uGentile, ^va Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷And he said to her, “Let the children be ^wfed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and ^xthrow it to the dogs.” ²⁸But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s ^ycrumbs.” ²⁹And he said to her, “For this statement you may ^zgo your way; the demon has left your daughter.” ³⁰And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.

Jesus Heals a Deaf Man

^31aThen he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to ^bthe Sea of Galilee, in the region of the ^cDecapolis. ³²And they brought to him ^da man who was deaf and ^dhad a speech impediment, and they begged him to ^elay his hand on him. ³³And ^ftaking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and ^fafter spitting touched his tongue. ³⁴And ^glooking up to heaven, ^hhe sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” ^35dAnd his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. ³⁶And ⁱJesus⁸ charged them to tell no one. But ^jthe more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. ³⁷And they were ^kastonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”