Mark 7:14-23

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. ”

Cross References

• 1. 7:14 Matt. 13:51
• 2. 7:15 See Acts 10:14, 15
• 3. 7:17 ch. 9:28
• 4. 7:17 [Matt. 13:36; 15:15]
• 5. 7:18 ch. 8:17, 18
• 6. 7:19 [1 Cor. 6:13]
• 7. 7:19 [Luke 11:41; Acts 10:15; 11:9]
• 8. 7:20 Matt. 12:34; James 3:6
• 9. 7:21 Matt. 5:22, 28; See Ex. 20:13, 14, 17
• 10. 7:22 2 Cor. 12:21; Gal. 5:19; Eph. 4:19; 2 Pet. 2:7; Jude 4
• 11. 7:22 See Matt. 6:23 (Gk.)
• 12. 7:22 Eph. 4:31; Col. 3:8; 1 Tim. 6:4
• 13. 7:22 See Luke 1:51
• 14. 7:22 [Eph. 5:17]
• 15. 7:23 1 Cor. 6:9, 10

Footnotes

• [a] 7:15 Some manuscripts add verse 16: 'If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear'
• [b] 7:19 Greek 'goes out into the latrine'