²And they saw that some of his disciples were eating their^a bread with unclean—that is, unwashed—hands. ³(For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands ritually,^b thus^* holding fast to the traditions of the elders. ⁴And when they come^c from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions^* which they have received and^* hold fast to—for example,^d the washing of cups and pitchers and bronze kettles and dining couches.)^e ⁵And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their^f bread with unclean hands?”

Read in Logos

Footnotes

aLiterally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
bLiterally “with the fist”; although the exact meaning of the phrase is uncertain, there is general agreement it has to do with the ritual or ceremonial nature of the handwashing
*Here “thus” is supplied as a component of the participle (“holding fast to”) which is understood as result
cThe phrase “when they come” is not in the Greek text but is implied
*The word “traditions” is not in the Greek text but is implied
*Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“have received”) has been translated as a finite verb
dThe phrase “for example” is not in the Greek text but is supplied as a clarification in the English translation
eSeveral important manuscripts omit “and dining couches”
fLiterally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”

NIVNew International Version (2011)

and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)

So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”

CSBChristian Standard Bible

They observed that some of his disciples were eating bread with unclean—that is, unwashed—hands. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, keeping the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they have washed. And there are many other customs they have received and keep, like the washing of cups, pitchers, kettles, and dining couches.) So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders, instead of eating bread with ceremonially unclean hands?”

NLTNew Living Translation

They noticed that some of his disciples failed to follow the Jewish ritual of hand washing before eating. (The Jews, especially the Pharisees, do not eat until they have poured water over their cupped hands, as required by their ancient traditions. Similarly, they don’t eat anything from the market until they immerse their hands in water. This is but one of many traditions they have clung to—such as their ceremonial washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.)

So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him, “Why don’t your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony.”

KJV 1900King James Version

And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault. For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?

Public Domain