Mark 7:14–37

¹⁴Again Jesus called the crowd to him. He said, “Listen to me, everyone. Understand this. ^15/16Nothing outside of you can make you ‘unclean’ by going into you. It is what comes out of you that makes you ‘unclean.’ ”

¹⁷Then he left the crowd and entered the house. His disciples asked him about this teaching.

¹⁸“Don’t you understand?” Jesus asked. “Don’t you see? Nothing that enters people from the outside can make them ‘unclean.’ ¹⁹It doesn’t go into the heart. It goes into the stomach. Then it goes out of the body.” In saying this, Jesus was calling all foods “clean.”

²⁰He went on to say, “What comes out of people makes them ‘unclean.’ ²¹Evil thoughts come from the inside, from people’s hearts. So do sexual sins, stealing and murder. Adultery, ²²greed, hate and cheating come from people’s hearts too. So do desires that are not pure, and wanting what belongs to others. And so do telling lies about others and being proud and being foolish. ²³All those evil things come from inside a person. They make him ‘unclean.’ ”

The Faith of a Greek Woman

²⁴Jesus went from there to a place near Tyre. He entered a house. He did not want anyone to know where he was. But he could not keep it a secret.

²⁵Soon a woman heard about him. An evil spirit controlled her little daughter. The woman came to Jesus and fell at his feet. ²⁶She was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷“First let the children eat all they want,” he told her. “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to their dogs.”

²⁸“Yes, Lord,” she replied. “But even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹Then he told her, “That was a good reply. You may go. The demon has left your daughter.”

³⁰So she went home and found her child lying on the bed. And the demon was gone.

Jesus Heals a Man Who Could Not Hear or Speak

³¹Then Jesus left the area of Tyre and went through Sidon. He went down to the Sea of Galilee and into the area known as the Ten Cities.

³²There some people brought a man to him. The man was deaf and could hardly speak. They begged Jesus to place his hand on him.

³³Jesus took the man to one side, away from the crowd. He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. ³⁴Jesus looked up to heaven. With a deep sigh, he said to the man, “Ephphatha!” That means “Be opened!” ³⁵The man’s ears were opened. His tongue was freed up, and he began to speak clearly.

³⁶Jesus ordered the people not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it.

³⁷People were really amazed. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes deaf people able to hear. And he makes those who can’t speak able to talk.”