Mark 7:21

Easy-to-Read Version

All these bad things begin inside a person, in the mind: bad thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder,

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities,

King James Version (1611)
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed euill thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

King James Version
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

English Standard Version
For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,

New American Standard Bible
"For from within, out of the hearts of people, come the evil thoughts, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, murders, acts of adultery,

New Century Version
All these evil things begin inside people, in the mind: evil thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder, adultery,

Amplified Bible
"For from within, [that is] out of the heart of men, come base and malevolent thoughts and schemes, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, murders, adulteries,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,

Legacy Standard Bible
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries,

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

Contemporary English Version
Out of your heart come evil thoughts, vulgar deeds, stealing, murder,

Complete Jewish Bible
For from within, out of a person's heart, come forth wicked thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,

Darby Translation
For from within, out of the heart of men, go forth evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

Geneva Bible (1587)
For from within, euen out of the heart of men, proceede euill thoughtes, adulteries, fornications, murthers,

George Lamsa Translation
For from within, from the heart of men go out evil thoughts, such as fornication, adultery, theft, murder,

Good News Translation
For from the inside, from your heart, come the evil ideas which lead you to do immoral things, to rob, kill,

Lexham English Bible
For from within, from the heart of people, come evil plans, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders,

Literal Translation
For from within, out of the heart of men, pass out the evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

American Standard Version
For from within, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,

Bible in Basic English
Because from inside, from the heart of men, come evil thoughts and unclean pleasures,

Hebrew Names Version
For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts,

International Standard Version
For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil thoughts come, as well as sexual immorality, stealing, murder,Genesis 6:5; 8:21; Matthew 15:19;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
For from within, from the heart of the sons of men, go forth evil thoughts, adultery, fornication, robbery, murder,

Murdock Translation
For from within, from the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adultery, whoredom,

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For from within, euen out of the heart of men, proceade euyll thoughtes, adulterie, fornication, murther,

English Revised Version
For from within, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,

World English Bible
For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts,

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
For from within, out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

Weymouth's New Testament
For from within, out of men's hearts, their evil purposes proceed--fornication, theft, murder, adultery,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For fro with ynne, of the herte of men comen forth yuel thouytis, auowtries,

Update Bible Version
For from inside, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,

Webster's Bible Translation
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

New English Translation
For from within, out of the human heart, come evil ideas, sexual immorality, theft, murder,

New King James Version
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

New Living Translation
For from within, out of a person's heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder,

New Life Bible
From the inside, out of the heart of men come bad thoughts, sex sins of a married person, sex sins of a person not married, killing other people,

New Revised Standard
For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For, from within, out of the heart of men, the base designs, come forth, - fornications, thefts,

Douay-Rheims Bible
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

Revised Standard Version
For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery,

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
For fro wt in even oute of the herte of men proceade evill thoughtes: advantry fornicacion murder

Young's Literal Translation
for from within, out of the heart of men, the evil reasonings do come forth, adulteries, whoredoms, murders,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
that defyleth the man. For from within out of the hert of man proceade euell thoughtes, aduoutrye, whordome, murthur,

Mace New Testament (1729)
for from within, from the heart of man proceed wicked designs, adulteries, fornications, murders; thefts,

Simplified Cowboy Version
From the heart comes evil desires, all sorts of gross sexual ideas, theft, killing, cheating on your spouse,

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

out: Genesis 6:5, Genesis 8:21, Job 14:4, Job 15:14-16, Job 25:4, Psalms 14:1, Psalms 14:3, Psalms 53:1, Psalms 53:3, Psalms 58:2, Psalms 58:3, Proverbs 4:23, Jeremiah 4:14, Jeremiah 17:9, Matthew 15:19, Matthew 23:25-28, Luke 16:15, Acts 5:4, Acts 8:22, Romans 7:5, Romans 7:8, Romans 8:7, Romans 8:8, Galatians 5:19-21, Titus 3:3, James 1:14, James 1:15, James 4:1-3, 1 Peter 4:2, 1 Peter 4:3

evil: Proverbs 15:25, Isaiah 59:7, Ezekiel 38:10, Matthew 9:4, James 2:4

Reciprocal: Numbers 19:22 - the soul Deuteronomy 15:9 - Beware Job 1:5 - in their hearts Job 15:5 - uttereth Job 15:12 - thine heart Psalms 5:9 - inward Psalms 10:4 - thoughts Psalms 119:36 - and not to Psalms 119:113 - hate Proverbs 12:20 - Deceit Proverbs 21:10 - soul Proverbs 27:19 - so Proverbs 28:26 - that Ecclesiastes 9:3 - also Isaiah 55:7 - his thoughts Isaiah 59:13 - speaking Jeremiah 16:12 - evil Jeremiah 18:12 - we will walk Jeremiah 22:17 - thine eyes Ezekiel 11:21 - whose Zechariah 7:10 - imagine Matthew 3:9 - think Matthew 9:3 - certain Matthew 23:28 - but Matthew 24:48 - say Mark 2:8 - Why Luke 7:39 - he spake Romans 3:10 - none Romans 7:18 - that in me 1 Corinthians 3:3 - and walk 1 Corinthians 5:11 - or covetous Ephesians 2:3 - by Ephesians 5:3 - fornication Colossians 3:5 - fornication 1 Timothy 1:10 - whoremongers Hebrews 3:12 - an Hebrews 12:16 - any fornicator

Cross-References

Genesis 6:13
So God said to Noah, "Everyone has filled the earth with anger and violence. So I will destroy all living things. I will remove them from the earth.

Genesis 6:17
"Understand what I am telling you. I will bring a great flood of water on the earth. I will destroy all living things that live under heaven. Everything on the earth will die.

Genesis 7:3
Get seven pairs (seven males and seven females) of all the birds. This will allow all these animals to continue living on the earth after the other animals are destroyed.

Genesis 7:4
Seven days from now, I will send much rain on the earth. It will rain for 40 days and 40 nights, and I will wipe everything off the face of the earth. I will destroy everything I made."

Genesis 7:6
Noah was 600 years old at the time the rains came.

Genesis 7:7
He and his family went into the boat to be saved from the flood. His wife and his sons and their wives were on the boat with him.

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 7:17
Water flooded the earth for 40 days. The water began rising and lifted the boat off the ground.

Genesis 7:20
The water continued to rise above the mountains. The water was more than 20 feet above the highest mountain.

Isaiah 24:6
The people living in this land are guilty of doing wrong, so God promised to destroy the land. The people will be punished, and only a few of them will survive.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For from within, out of the heart of man,.... The inside of man is very bad, his inward part is not only wicked, but wickedness itself, yea, very wickedness, Psalms 5:9, in him dwells no good thing naturally, his heart is wicked, and desperately so; it is full of evil; and out of the abundance of it, proceed the evil things hereafter mentioned; all its powers and faculties are vitiated, there is no place clean; the understanding and judgment are dreadfully corrupted; the mind and conscience are defiled; the affections are inordinate; not only the thought, but every imagination of the thought of the heart is evil, and that continually: what good thing therefore, can come out of such a Nazareth as this? Nothing, but what follows: for from hence

proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders; which several things are related in Mt. 15:19 see the note on "Mt 15:19"; only the order here is a little different; "murders", which are here mentioned last, are there put after "evil thoughts".

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.