Mark 7:9

9 And he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition!

Mark 7:9 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 7:9

And he said unto them
He continued his discourse, saying,

full well,
or "fairly",

ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own
tradition:
these words may be considered, as spoken ironically, thus; as pious and excellently good men, you in a very fair and handsome manner, reject and make void the commandments and laws of God; and it is very fit it should be so, in order to preserve your own traditions, that nothing may be wanting to keep up the honour of them, and a due regard to them. The Arabic version reads the words by way of interrogation, "is it fit that you should omit the commandments of God, and keep your own statutes?" and so the Ethiopic, "do ye rightly make void the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own commandment?" Which makes them come nearer to the passage in Matthew; (See Gill on Matthew 15:3).

Mark 7:9 In-Context

7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'

8 You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men."

9 And he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition!

10 For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die';

11 but you say, 'If a man tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is Corban' (that is, given to God) --