Mark 7:14–37

Defilement from Within

¹⁴And summoning the crowd again, he said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵There is nothing outside of a person that is able to defile him by^* going into him. But the things that go out of a person are the things that defile a person.”^{s 17}And when he entered into the house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable. ¹⁸And he said to them, “So are you also without understanding? Do you not understand that everything that is outside that goes into a person is not able to defile him? ¹⁹For it does not enter into his heart but into his^t stomach, and goes out into the latrine”—thus^* declaring all foods clean. ²⁰And he said, “What comes out of a person, that defiles a person. ²¹For from within, from the heart of people, come evil plans, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, ²²adulteries, acts of greed, malicious deeds, deceit, licentiousness, envy,^u abusive speech, pride, foolishness. ²³All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”

A Syrophoenician Woman’s Great Faith

²⁴And from there he set out and^* went to the region of Tyre. And when he^* entered into a house, he wanted no one to know, and yet he was not able to escape notice. ²⁵But immediately a woman whose young daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit, when she^* heard about him, came and^* fell down at his feet, ²⁶Now the woman was a Greek—a Syrophoenician by nationality—and she was asking him that he would expel the demon from her daughter. ²⁷And he said to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it^* to the dogs!” ²⁸But she answered and said to him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” ²⁹And he said to her, “Because of this statement, go! The demon has gone out of your daughter.” ³⁰And when she^* went to her home, she found the child lying on the bed and the demon gone.

A Man Deaf and Unable to Speak Healed

³¹And again he went away from the region of Tyre and^* came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis. ³²And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had difficulty speaking, and they were imploring him that he would place his^v hand on him. ³³And he took him away from the crowd by himself and^* put his fingers into his ears, and after^* spitting, he touched his tongue. ³⁴And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”). ³⁵And^w his ears were opened and his difficulty in speaking was removed^x and he began to speak normally. ³⁶And he ordered them that they should say nothing, but as much as he ordered them not to, they proclaimed it^* even more instead. ³⁷And they were amazed beyond all measure, saying, “He has done all things well! He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”