Mark 7:2

Easy-to-Read Version

They saw that some of his followers ate food with hands that were not clean, meaning that they did not wash their hands in a special way.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
They observed that some of his disciples were eating bread with unclean—that is, unwashed—hands.

King James Version (1611)
And when they saw some of his disciples eate bread with defiled (that is to say, with vnwashen) hands, they found fault.

King James Version
And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault.

English Standard Version
they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed.

New American Standard Bible
and saw that some of His disciples were eating their bread with unholy hands, that is, unwashed.

New Century Version
They saw that some of Jesus' followers ate food with hands that were not clean, that is, they hadn't washed them.

Amplified Bible
and they had seen that some of His disciples ate their bread with [ceremonially] impure hands, that is, unwashed [and defiled according to Jewish religious ritual].

New American Standard Bible (1995)
and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is, unwashed.

Legacy Standard Bible
and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with defiled hands, that is, unwashed.

Berean Standard Bible
and they saw some of His disciples eating with hands that were defiled-that is, unwashed.

Contemporary English Version
They noticed that some of his disciples ate without first washing their hands.

Complete Jewish Bible
and saw that some of his talmidim ate with ritually unclean hands, that is, without doing n'tilat-yadayim.

Darby Translation
and seeing some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, unwashed, hands,

Geneva Bible (1587)
And when they sawe some of his disciples eate meate with common hands, (that is to say, vnwashen) they complained.

George Lamsa Translation
And they saw some of his disciples eating bread with their hands unwashed; and they reproached them.

Good News Translation
They noticed that some of his disciples were eating their food with hands that were ritually unclean—that is, they had not washed them in the way the Pharisees said people should.

Lexham English Bible
And they saw that some of his disciples were eating their bread with unclean—that is, unwashed—hands.

Literal Translation
And seeing some of His disciples eating bread with unclean, that is unwashed hands, they found fault.

American Standard Version
and had seen that some of his disciples ate their bread with defiled, that is, unwashen, hands.

Bible in Basic English
And had seen that some of his disciples took their bread with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands.

Hebrew Names Version
Now when they saw some of his talmidim eating bread with defiled, that is, unwashed, hands, they found fault.

International Standard Version
They noticed that some of his disciples were eatingeating bread">[fn] with unclean hands, that is, without washing them.

Etheridge Translation
and they saw some of his disciples eating bread with their hands not washed; and they complained.

Murdock Translation
And they saw some of his disciples eating bread, with their hands unwashed; and they censured it.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And whe they sawe some of his disciples eate bread with common [that is to say, with vnwasshen] hands, they founde fault.

English Revised Version
and had seen that some of his disciples ate their bread with defiled, that is, unwashen, hands.

World English Bible
Now when they saw some of his disciples eating bread with defiled, that is, unwashed, hands, they found fault.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, unwashen hands.

Weymouth's New Testament
They had noticed that some of His disciples were eating their food with `unclean' (that is to say, unwashed) hands.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And whanne thei hadden seen summe of hise disciplis ete breed with vnwaisschen hoondis, thei blameden.

Update Bible Version
and had seen that some of his disciples ate their bread with defiled, that is, unwashed, hands.

Webster's Bible Translation
And when they saw some of his disciples eating bread with defiled (that is to say with unwashed) hands, they found fault.

New English Translation
And they saw that some of Jesus' disciples ate their bread with unclean hands, that is, unwashed.

New King James Version
Now when [fn] they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault.

New Living Translation
They noticed that some of his disciples failed to follow the Jewish ritual of hand washing before eating.

New Life Bible
They had seen some of His followers eat bread without washing their hands.

New Revised Standard
they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
and, observing certain of his disciples, that, with defiled hands, that is unwashed, they are eating bread, - -

Douay-Rheims Bible
And when they had seen some of his disciples eat bread with common, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault.

Revised Standard Version
they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands defiled, that is, unwashed.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And whe they sawe certayne of his disciples eate breed wt comen hondes (that is to saye wt vnwesshen hondes) they coplayned.

Young's Literal Translation
and having seen certain of his disciples with defiled hands -- that is, unwashed -- eating bread, they found fault;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And wha they sawe certayne of his disciples eate bred with comon (that is, with vnwashen) handes, they complayned.

Mace New Testament (1729)
when observing that some of his disciples were eating with profane hands, that is, without having wash'd them, they found fault.

Simplified Cowboy Version
They saw that some of the cowboys were eating before they had washed their hands

Contextual Overview

¹ Some Pharisees and some teachers of the law came from Jerusalem and gathered around Jesus. ² They saw that some of his followers ate food with hands that were not clean, meaning that they did not wash their hands in a special way. ³ The Pharisees and all the other Jews never eat before washing their hands in this special way. They do this to follow the traditions they have from their great leaders who lived long ago. ⁴ And when these Jews buy something in the market, they never eat it until they wash it in a special way. They also follow other rules from their people who lived before them. They follow rules like the washing of cups, pitchers, and pots. ⁵ The Pharisees and teachers of the law said to Jesus, "Your followers don't follow the traditions we have from our great leaders who lived long ago. They eat their food with hands that are not clean. Why do they do this?" ⁶ Jesus answered, "You are all hypocrites. Isaiah was right when he wrote these words from God about you: ‘These people honor me with their words, but I am not really important to them. ⁷ Their worship of me is worthless. The things they teach are only human rules.' ⁸ You have stopped following God's commands, preferring instead the man-made rules you got from others." ⁹ Then he said, "You show great skill in avoiding the commands of God so that you can follow your own teachings! ¹⁰ Moses said, ‘You must respect your father and mother.' He also said, ‘Whoever says anything bad to their father or mother must be killed.'

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

defiled: or, common, Acts 10:14, Acts 10:15, Acts 10:28

they found: Daniel 6:4, Daniel 6:5, Matthew 7:3-5, Matthew 23:23-25

Reciprocal: Leviticus 11:8 - they are unclean Job 17:9 - clean Job 31:14 - when he Isaiah 29:13 - their fear Matthew 15:2 - transgress Mark 8:11 - Pharisees Luke 11:38 - he marvelled John 2:6 - after John 3:25 - about Acts 11:8 - common

Cross-References

Genesis 7:1
Then the Lord said to Noah, "I have seen that you are a good man, even among the evil people of this time. So gather your family, and all of you go into the boat.

Genesis 7:8
All the clean animals, all the other animals on the earth, the birds, and everything that crawls on the earth

Genesis 7:11
On the 17th day of the second month, when Noah was 600 years old, the springs under the earth broke through the ground, and water flowed out everywhere. The sky also opened like windows and rain poured down. The rain fell on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. That same day Noah went into the boat with his wife, his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives.

Genesis 7:15
All these animals went into the boat with Noah. They came in groups of two from every kind of animal that had the breath of life.

Genesis 7:19
The water rose so much that even the highest mountains were covered by the water.

Genesis 7:21
Every living thing on earth died—every man and woman, every bird, and every kind of animal. All the many kinds of animals and all the things that crawl on the ground died. Every living, breathing thing on dry land died.

Genesis 8:20
Then Noah built an altar to honor the Lord . Noah took some of all the clean birds and some of all the clean animals and burned them on the altar as a gift to God.

Leviticus 10:10
You must be able to clearly tell the difference between what is holy and what is not holy, between what is clean and what is unclean.

Ezekiel 44:23
"Also, the priests must teach my people the difference between things that are holy and things that are not holy. They must help my people know what is clean and what is unclean.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And when they saw some of his disciples,.... An opportunity soon offered of giving them an handle against him: for observing some of his disciples to sit down to meat, they took notice that they

eat bread with defiled (that is to say, with unwashen) hands, and

they found fault; with them, and charged them with the breach of the traditions of the elders, and took an occasion from hence of quarrelling with Christ. The Jews use the same phrase the evangelist here does, and interpret it in just the same manner: so, speaking of things eaten, בידים מסואבות, "with defiled hands"; that is, says the commentator i, it is all one as if it was said, בלא נטילת ידים, "without washing of hands"; which was esteemed a very great crime, and especially if done in a contemptuous way: for they say k,

"he that despiseth washing of hands, shall be rooted out of the world; for in it is the secret of the decalogue:''

and particularly to eat with unwashed hands, was unpardonable in a disciple of a wise man; for they looked upon this to be the characteristic of one of the vulgar people, a common and illiterate man: for they ask l,

"who is one of the people of the earth, or a plebeian? he that does not eat his common food with purity.''

By this also they distinguished a Jew from a Gentile; if he washed his hands, and blessed, he was known to be an Israelite, but if not, a Gentile m; :-.

i Bartenora in Misn. Cholin, c. 2. sect. 5. k Zoharin Numb fol. 100. 3. l T. Bab. Gittin, fol. 61. 1. m Bevaidbar Rabba, fol. 228. 4.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See this passage explained in the notes at Matthew 15:1-20.

Mark 7:1

Came from Jerusalem - Probably to observe his conduct, and to find matter of accusation against him.

Mark 7:2

Defiled hands - The hands were considered defiled or polluted unless they were washed previous to every meal.

Mark 7:3

Except they wash their hands oft - Our word “oft” means frequently, often. The Greek wore translated oft has been rendered various ways. Some have said that it means “up to the wrist” - unless they wash their hands up to the wrist. Others have said up to the elbow.” There is evidence that the Pharisees had some such foolish rule as this about washing, and it is likely that they practiced it faithfully. But the Greek Word πυγμή pugmē - means properly the “fist,” and the meaning here is, “Unless they wash their hands (rubbing them) with the fist” - that is, not merely dipping the finger or hands in water as a sign of ablution, but rubbing the hands together as a ball or fist, in the usual Oriental manner when water is poured over them. Hence, the phrase comes to mean “diligently, carefully, sedulously.” - Robinson, Lexicon. The idea is, unless they pay the utmost attention to it, and do it carefully and according to rule.

The tradition - What had been handed down; not what was delivered “by writing” in the law of Moses, but what had been communicated from father to son as being proper and binding.

The elders - The ancients; not the old men “then living,” but those who had lived formerly.

Mark 7:4

Market - This word means either the place where provisions were sold, or the place where men were convened for any purpose. Here it probably means the former.

Except they wash - In the original, “Except they baptize.” In this place it does not mean to immerse the whole body, but only the hands. There is no evidence that the Jews washed their “whole bodies” every time they came from market. It is probable that they often washed with the use of a very small quantity of water.

The washing of cups - In the Greek, “the baptism of cups.”

Cups - drinking vessels. Those used at their meals.

Pots - Measures of “liquids.” Vessels made of wood, used to hold wine, vinegar, etc.

brazen vessels - Vessels made of brass, used in cooking or otherwise. These, if much polluted, were commonly passed through the fire: if slightly polluted they were washed. Earthen vessels, if defiled, were usually broken.

Tables - This word means, in the original, “beds or couches.” It refers not to the “tables” on which they ate, but to the “couches” on which they reclined at their meals. See the notes at Matthew 23:6. These were supposed to be defiled when any unclean or polluted person had reclined on them, and they deemed it necessary to purify them with water. The word “baptism” is here used - in the original, “the baptism of tables;” but, since it cannot be supposed that “couches” were entirely “immersed” in water, the word “baptism” here must denote some other application of water, by sprinkling or otherwise, and shows that the term is used in the sense of washing in any way. If the word is used here, as is clear it is, to denote anything except entire immersion, it may be elsewhere, and baptism is lawfully performed, therefore, without immersing the whole body in water.

Mark 7:7

For doctrines - For commands of God binding on the conscience. Imposing “your” traditions as equal in authority to the laws of God.

Mark 7:8

Laying aside - Rejecting, or making, it give place to traditions; considering the traditions as superior in authority to the divine law. This was the uniform doctrine of the Pharisees. See the notes at Matthew 15:1-9.

The tradition of men - What has been handed down by human beings, or what rests solely on their authority.

Mark 7:9

Full well - These words are capable of different interpretations. Some read them as a question: “Do ye do well in rejecting?” etc. Others suppose they mean “skillfully, cunningly.” “You show great cunning or art, in laying aside God’s commands and substituting in their place those of men.” Others suppose them to be ironical. “How nobly you act! From conscientious attachment to your traditions you have made void the law of God;” meaning to intimate by it that they had acted wickedly and basely.

Mark 7:17

The parable - The “obscure” and difficult remarks which he had made in Mark 7:15. The word “parable,” here, means “obscure” and “difficult saying.” They could not understand it. They had probably imbibed many of the popular notions of the Pharisees, and they could not understand why a man was not defiled by external things. It was, moreover, a doctrine of the law that men were ceremonially polluted by contact with dead bodies, etc., and they could not understand how it could be otherwise.

Mark 7:18

Cannot defile him - Cannot render his “soul” polluted; cannot make him a “sinner” so as to need this purifying as a “religious” observance.

Mark 7:19

Entereth not into his heart - Does not reach or affect the “mind,” the “soul,” and consequently cannot pollute it. Even if it should affect the “body,” yet it cannot the “soul,” and consequently cannot need to be cleansed by a religious ordinance. The notions of the Pharisees, therefore, are not founded in reason, but are mere “superstition.”

The draught - The sink, the vault. “Purging all meats.” The word “purging,” here, means to purify, to cleanse. What is thrown out of the body is the innutritious part of the food taken into the stomach, and leaving only that which is proper for the support of life; and it cannot, therefore, defile the soul.

All meals - All food; all that is taken into the body to support life. The meaning is, that the economy or process by which life is supported “purifies” or “renders nutritious” all kinds of food. The unwholesome or innutritious parts are separated, and the wholesome only are taken into the system. This agrees with all that has since been discovered of the process of digestion and of the support of life. The food taken into the stomach is by the gastric juice converted into a thick pulp called chyme. The nutritious part of this is conveyed into small vessels, and changed into a milky substance called “chyle.” This is poured by the thoracic duct into the left subclavian vein and mingles with the blood, and conveys nutriment and support to all parts of the system. The useless parts of the food are thrown off.

Mark 7:20

Hat which cometh out of the man - His words; the expression of his thoughts and feelings; his conduct, as the development of inward malice, anger, covetousness, lust, etc.

Defileth the man - Makes him really polluted or offensive in the sight of God. This renders the soul corrupt and abominable in his sight. See Matthew 15:18-20.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Mark 7:2. They found fault. — This is wanting in ABEHLV, nineteen others, and several versions: Mill and Bengel approve the omission, and Griesbach rejects the word. If the 3d and 4th verses be read in a parenthesis, the 2d and 5th verses will appear to be properly connected, without the above clause.