Mark 7:14-24

What Defiles a Person

14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, ¹"Hear me, all of you, and understand:

15 ²There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him."^[a]

17 And when he had entered ³the house and left the people, ⁴his disciples asked him about the parable.

18 And he said to them, "Then ⁵are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him,

19 since it enters not his heart ⁶but his stomach, and is expelled?"^[b] (⁷Thus he declared all foods clean.)

20 And he said, ⁸"What comes out of a person is what defiles him.

21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, ⁹murder, adultery,

22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, ¹⁰sensuality, ¹¹envy, ¹²slander, ¹³pride, ¹⁴foolishness.

23 ¹⁵All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."

The Syrophoenician Woman's Faith

24 And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon.^[c] And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden.

Cross References

• 1. Matthew 13:51
• 2. See Acts 10:14, 15
• 3. Mark 9:28
• 4. [Matthew 13:36; Matthew 15:15]
• 5. Mark 8:17, 18
• 6. [1 Corinthians 6:13]
• 7. [Luke 11:41; Acts 10:15; Acts 11:9]
• 8. Matthew 12:34; James 3:6
• 9. Matthew 5:22, 28; See Ex. 20:13, 14, 17
• 10. 2 Corinthians 12:21; Galatians 5:19; Ephesians 4:19; 2 Peter 2:7; Jude 4
• 11. See Matthew 6:23(Gk.)
• 12. Ephesians 4:31; Colossians 3:8; 1 Timothy 6:4
• 13. See Luke 1:51
• 14. [Ephesians 5:17]
• 15. 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10

Footnotes

• [a]. Some manuscripts add verse 16: If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear
• [b]. Greek goes out into the latrine
• [c]. Some manuscripts omit and Sidon