Mark 7:17

Geneva Bible

And when hee came into an house, away from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
Then Jesus left the people and went into the house. The followers asked Jesus about what he had told the people.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And whe he came to house awaye fro the people his disciples axed him of the similitude.

International Standard Version
When he had left the crowd and gone home, his disciples began asking him about the parable.Matthew 15:15;">[xr]

New American Standard Bible
And when He later entered a house, away from the crowd, His disciples asked Him about the parable.

New Century Version
When Jesus left the people and went into the house, his followers asked him about this story.

Update Bible Version
And when he had entered into the house from the multitude, his disciples asked of him the parable.

Webster's Bible Translation
And when he had entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.

Amplified Bible
When Jesus had left the crowd and gone into the house, His disciples asked Him about the parable.

English Standard Version
And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable.

World English Bible
When he had entered into the house from the multitude, his disciples asked him about the parable.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And when he was come from the multitude into the house, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.

Weymouth's New Testament
After He had left the crowd and gone indoors, His disciples began to ask Him about this figure of speech.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And whanne he was entrid in to an hous, fro the puple, hise disciplis axiden hym the parable.

English Revised Version
And when he was entered into the house from the multitude, his disciples asked of him the parable.

Berean Standard Bible
After Jesus had left the crowd and gone into the house, His disciples inquired about the parable.

Contemporary English Version
After Jesus and his disciples had left the crowd and had gone into the house, they asked him what these sayings meant.

American Standard Version
And when he was entered into the house from the multitude, his disciples asked of him the parable.

Bible in Basic English
And when he had gone into the house away from all the people, his disciples put questions to him about the saying.

Complete Jewish Bible
When he had left the people and entered the house, his talmidim asked him about the parable.

Darby Translation
And when he went indoors from the crowd, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.

Etheridge Translation
But when Jeshu had gone into the house (apart) from the multitude, his disciples asked him concerning that parable.

Murdock Translation
And when Jesus had entered the house, apart from the multitude, his disciples asked him about this similitude.

King James Version (1611)
And when hee was entred into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.

New Living Translation
Then Jesus went into a house to get away from the crowd, and his disciples asked him what he meant by the parable he had just used.

New Life Bible
He went into the house away from all the people. His followers began to ask about the picture-story.

New Revised Standard
When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable.

George Lamsa Translation
When Jesus entered into the house because of the people, his disciples asked him concerning that parable.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, when he entered into a house from the multitudes, his disciples began to question him as to the parable;

Douay-Rheims Bible
And when he was come into the house from the multitude, his disciples asked him the parable.

Revised Standard Version
And when he had entered the house, and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And when he came into the house, away from the people, his disciples asked hym of the similitude.

Good News Translation
When he left the crowd and went into the house, his disciples asked him to explain this saying.

Christian Standard Bible®
When he went into the house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable.

Hebrew Names Version
When he had entered into the house from the multitude, his talmidim asked him about the parable.

King James Version
And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.

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

Literal Translation
And when He entered into a house from the crowd, His disciples questioned Him about the parable.

Young's Literal Translation
And when he entered into a house from the multitude, his disciples were questioning him about the simile,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And whan he came from the people in to ye house, his disciples axed him of this symilitude.

Mace New Testament (1729)
When he withdrew from the people into the house, his disciples ask'd him the meaning of that maxim.

THE MESSAGE
When he was back home after being with the crowd, his disciples said, "We don't get it. Put it in plain language."

New English Translation
Now when Jesus had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable.

New King James Version
When He had entered a house away from the crowd, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable.

Simplified Cowboy Version
Jesus rode off and after a long trot, he got to the house he and the cowboys were staying at. As they settled in, some of the cowboys asked him what he meant by his little story about what makes a man wrong in God's eyes.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
When he had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable.

Legacy Standard Bible
And when He had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples were asking Him about the parable.

Contextual Overview

¹ Then gathered vnto him the Pharises, and certaine of the Scribes which came from Hierusalem. ² And when they sawe some of his disciples eate meate with common hands, (that is to say, vnwashen) they complained. ³ (For the Pharises, and all the Iewes, except they wash their hands oft, eate not, holding the tradition of the Elders. ⁴ And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eate not: and many other things there be, which they haue taken vpon them to obserue, as the washing of cups, and pots, and of brasen vessels, and of beds.) ⁵ Then asked him the Pharises and Scribes, Why walke not thy disciples according to the tradition of the Elders, but eate meate with vnwashen hands? ⁶ Then hee answered and sayd vnto them, Surely Esay hath prophecied well of you, hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth mee with lippes, but their heart is farre away from me. ⁷ But they worship me in vaine, teaching for doctrines the commandements of men. ⁸ For ye lay the commaundement of God apart, and obserue the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and of cups, and many other such like things ye doe. ⁹ And he sayd vnto them, Well, ye reiect the commandement of God, that ye may obserue your owne tradition. ¹⁰ For Moses sayd, Honour thy father and thy mother: and Whosoeuer shall speake euill of father or mother, let him die the death.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Mark 4:10, Mark 4:34, Matthew 13:10, Matthew 13:36, Matthew 15:15

Reciprocal: Mark 4:13 - Know Luke 8:9 - What

Cross-References

Genesis 7:4
For seuen dayes hence I will cause it raine vpon the earth fourtie dayes and fourtie nightes, and all the substance that I haue made, will I destroy from off the earth.

Genesis 7:12
And the raine was vpon the earth fourtie dayes and fourtie nightes.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And when he was entered into the house,.... Very probably at Capernaum, and it may be the house of Simon and Andrew, where he used to be when there:

from the people; being separated from them, having dismissed and left them, when he and his disciples were by themselves alone:

his disciples asked him concerning the parable; that saying of his to the people, which was somewhat dark and intricate to them; that nothing without a man going into him defiled him, but what comes out of him: this was asked by Peter, in the name of the rest;

:-.

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.