Mark 7:19

19 because it does not enter his heart, but it goes into the stomach and then is eliminated.” (Thus all foods are clean.) ^[a]

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 After Jesus had left the crowd and gone into the house, His disciples inquired about the parable.

18 “Are you still so dull?” He asked. “Do you not understand? Nothing that enters a man from the outside can defile him,

19 because it does not enter his heart, but it goes into the stomach and then is eliminated.” (Thus all foods are clean.)

20 He continued: “What comes out of a man, that is what defiles him.

21 For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,

Footnotes

• [a]. Or and then is eliminated, thereby expelling all foods.”