Mark 7:19

19 For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)

Mark 7:19 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
19 Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?
English Standard Version (ESV)
19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.)
New Living Translation (NLT)
19 Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.)
The Message Bible (MSG)
19 It doesn't enter your heart but your stomach, works its way through the intestines, and is finally flushed." (That took care of dietary quibbling; Jesus was saying that all foods are fit to eat.)
American Standard Version (ASV)
19 because it goeth not into his heart, but into his belly, and goeth out into the draught? [This he said], making all meats clean.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
19 It doesn't go into his thoughts but into his stomach and then into a toilet." (By saying this, Jesus declared all foods acceptable.)
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
19 For it doesn't go into his heart but into the stomach and is eliminated." (As a result, He made all foods clean.)
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
19 It doesn't go into the heart. It goes into the stomach. Then it goes out of the body." In saying this, Jesus was calling 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 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable.
18 “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them?
19 For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
20 He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them.
21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder,

Cross References 2

  • 1. Romans 14:1-12; Colossians 2:16; 1 Timothy 4:3-5
  • 2. S Acts 10:15
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