Mark 7:19

19 For it does not enter into his heart but into his stomach, and goes out into the latrine"--[thus] declaring all foods clean.

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 And when he entered into the house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable.

18 And he said to them, "So are you also without understanding? Do you not understand that everything [that is] outside that goes into a person [is] not able to defile him?

19 For it does not enter into his heart but into his stomach, and goes out into the latrine"--[thus] declaring all foods clean.

20 And he said, "What comes out of a person, that defiles a person.

21 For from within, from the heart of people, come evil plans, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders,

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "the"; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
• [b]. *Here "[thus]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("declaring") which is understood as result