Mark 7:19

19 It doesn't enter your heart but your stomach, works its way through the intestines, and is finally flushed." (That took care of dietary quibbling; Jesus was saying that all foods are fit to eat.)

Mark 7:19 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 7:19

Because it entereth not into his heart
Which is the seat and fountain of all moral pollution; and if that is not defiled, no other part can be; and that that is not defiled by eating and drinking, unless in case of intemperance, is clear; because food and drink do not go into it:

but into the belly;
it is taken in at the mouth, goes down the throat, and is received into the stomach, and from thence it passes through the bowels:

and goeth into the draught;
(aokh tyb) , "the private house", as the Jews call it, without going into the heart at all:

purging all meats;
that which it leaves behind, is pure and nourishing; and whatever is gross and impure, is carried with it into the draught, so that nothing remains in the man that is defiling.

Mark 7:19 In-Context

17 When he was back home after being with the crowd, his disciples said, "We don't get it. Put it in plain language."
18 Jesus said, "Are you being willfully stupid? Don't you see that what you swallow can't contaminate you?
19 It doesn't enter your heart but your stomach, works its way through the intestines, and is finally flushed." (That took care of dietary quibbling; Jesus was saying that all foods are fit to eat.)
20 He went on: "It's what comes out of a person that pollutes:
21 obscenities, lusts, thefts, murders, adulteries,
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.