7:1 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered round Jesus and
7:2 saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were unclean, that is, unwashed.
7:3 (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders.
7:4 When they come from the market-place they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.) [Some early manuscripts pitchers, kettles and dining couches]
7:5 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 `unclean’ hands?
7:6 He replied, Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites as it is written: `These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
7:7 They worship me in vain their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ [Isaiah 29:13]
7:8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.
7:9 And he said to them: You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe [Some manuscripts: set up] your own traditions!
7:10 For Moses said, `Honour your father and your mother,’ [Exodus 20:12 Deut. 5:16] and, `Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ [Exodus 21:17 Lev. 20:9]
7:11 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: `Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a gift devoted to God),
7:12 then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother.
7:13 Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.
7:14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, Listen to me, everyone, and understand this.
7:15 Nothing outside a man can make him `unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him `unclean’.
7:16 [Some early manuscripts `unclean’. 16 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.]
7:17 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable.
7:18 Are you so dull? he asked. Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him `unclean’?
7:19 For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body. (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
7:20 He went on: What comes out of a man is what makes him `unclean’.
7:21 For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
7:22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.
7:23 All these evils come from inside and make a man `unclean’.
7:24 Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. [Many early manuscripts Tyre and Sidon] He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it yet he could not keep his presence secret.
7:25 In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil [Greek: unclean] spirit came and fell at his feet.
7:26 The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.
7:27 First let the children eat all they want, he told her, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.
7:28 Yes, Lord, she replied, but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.
7:29 Then he told her, For such a reply, you may go the demon has left your daughter.
7:30 She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
7:31 Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. [That is, the Ten Cities]
7:32 There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man.
7:33 After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spat and touched the man’s tongue.
7:34 He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, Ephphatha! (which means, Be opened!).
7:35 At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.
7:36 Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it.
7:37 People were overwhelmed with amazement. He has done everything well, they said. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.