Mark 7:9

Green's Literal Translation

And He said to them, Well do you to set aside the commandment of God so that you may keep your tradition?

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
He also said to them, “You have a fine way of invalidating God’s command in order to set up

King James Version (1611)
And he said vnto them, Full well ye reiect the Commandement of God, that ye may keepe your owne tradition.

King James Version
And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

English Standard Version
And he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!

New American Standard Bible
He was also saying to them, "You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.

New Century Version
Then Jesus said to them, "You cleverly ignore the commands of God so you can follow your own teachings.

Amplified Bible
He was also saying to them, "You are experts at setting aside and nullifying the commandment of God in order to keep your [man-made] tradition and regulations.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
He was also saying to them, "You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.

Legacy Standard Bible
And He was also saying to them, "You are good at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.

Berean Standard Bible
He went on to say, "You neatly set aside the commandment of God to maintain your own tradition.

Contemporary English Version
You are good at rejecting God's commands so that you can follow your own teachings!

Complete Jewish Bible
Indeed," he said to them, "you have made a fine art of departing from God's command in order to keep your tradition!

Darby Translation
And he said to them, Well do ye set aside the commandment of God, that ye may observe what is delivered by yourselves [to keep].

Easy-to-Read Version
Then he said, "You show great skill in avoiding the commands of God so that you can follow your own teachings!

Geneva Bible (1587)
And he sayd vnto them, Well, ye reiect the commandement of God, that ye may obserue your owne tradition.

George Lamsa Translation
He said to them, Well you do injustice to the commandment of God so as to sustain your own tradition.

Good News Translation
And Jesus continued, "You have a clever way of rejecting God's law in order to uphold your own teaching.

Lexham English Bible
And he said to them, "You splendidly ignore the commandment of God so that you can keep your tradition.

American Standard Version
And he said unto them, Full well do ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your tradition.

Bible in Basic English
And he said to them, Truly you put on one side the law of God, so that you may keep the rules which have been handed down to you.

Hebrew Names Version
He said to them, "Full well do you reject the mitzvah of God, that you may keep your tradition.

International Standard Version
Then he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your own tradition!

Etheridge Translation
He said to them (moreover), You decently [fn] suppress the commandment of God, that you may establish your tradition.

Murdock Translation
He said [fn] to them: Full well do ye spurn the precept of God, that ye may establish your tradition !

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And he sayde vnto them: Well, ye cast asyde the commaundement of God, to mayntayne your owne tradition.

English Revised Version
And he said unto them, Full well do ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your tradition.

World English Bible
He said to them, "Full well do you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And he said to them, Full well ye abolish the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

Weymouth's New Testament
"Praiseworthy indeed!" He added, "to set at nought God's Commandment in order to observe your own traditions!

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And he seide to hem, Wel ye han maad the maundement of God voide, `to kepe youre tradicioun.

Update Bible Version
And he said to them, Full well do you reject the commandment of God, that your tradition might be established.

Webster's Bible Translation
And he said to them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition,

New English Translation
He also said to them, "You neatly reject the commandment of God in order to set up your tradition.

New King James Version
He said to them, "All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.

New Living Translation
Then he said, "You skillfully sidestep God's law in order to hold on to your own tradition.

New Life Bible
Jesus said to them, "You put away the Laws of God but keep your own teaching.

New Revised Standard
Then he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition!

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And he was saying to them - Well, do ye set aside the commandment of God, that, your own tradition, ye may observe;

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he said to them: Well do you make void the commandment of God, that you may keep your own tradition.

Revised Standard Version
And he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition!

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And he sayde vnto them: well ye cast asyde the comaundement of God to mayntayne youre owne tradicios.

Young's Literal Translation
And he said to them, `Well do ye put away the command of God that your tradition ye may keep;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And he saide vnto the: How goodly haue ye cast asyde the comaundement of God, to manteyne youre owne tradicions?

Mace New Testament (1729)
You are in the right, said he, to abolish the laws of God, to make way for such traditions.

THE MESSAGE
He went on, "Well, good for you. You get rid of God's command so you won't be inconvenienced in following the religious fashions! Moses said, ‘Respect your father and mother,' and, ‘Anyone denouncing father or mother should be killed.' But you weasel out of that by saying that it's perfectly acceptable to say to father or mother, ‘Gift! What I owed you I've given as a gift to God,' thus relieving yourselves of obligation to father or mother. You scratch out God's Word and scrawl a whim in its place. You do a lot of things like this."

Simplified Cowboy Version
Jesus kept it up and said, "Y'all conveniently shun the commands from God in order to make up your own sorry rules.

Contextual Overview

¹ And the Pharisees were assembled to Him, also some of the scribes, coming from Jerusalem. ² And seeing some of His disciples eating bread with unclean, that is unwashed hands, they found fault. ³ For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash the hands with the fist, holding the tradition of the elders. ⁴ And coming from the market, if they do not immerse themselves, they do not eat. And there are many other things which they received to hold: dippings of cups, and of utensils, and of copper vessels, and couches. ⁵ Then the Pharisees and scribes questioned Him, Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands? ⁶ And answering, He said to them, Well did Isaiah prophesy concerning you, hypocrites; as it has been written: "This people honors Me with the lips, but their heart is far away from Me; ⁷ and in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." Isa. 29:13 ⁸ For forsaking the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men: immersings of utensils and cups, and many other such like things you do. ⁹ And He said to them, Well do you to set aside the commandment of God so that you may keep your tradition? ¹⁰ For Moses said, "Honor your father and your mother;" Ex. 20:12; Deut. 5:16 and, "The one speaking evil of father or mother, let him expire by death." Ex. 21:17

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Full: 2 Kings 16:10-16, Isaiah 24:5, Isaiah 29:13, Jeremiah 44:16, Jeremiah 44:17, Daniel 7:25, Daniel 11:36, Matthew 15:3-6, 2 Thessalonians 2:4

reject: or, frustrate, Mark 7:13, Psalms 119:126, Romans 3:31, Galatians 2:21

Reciprocal: Genesis 45:11 - General 1 Kings 18:27 - Elijah Ecclesiastes 7:29 - they Habakkuk 1:4 - the law Mark 14:41 - Sleep Ephesians 6:2 - General James 2:19 - thou doest

Cross-References

Genesis 2:19
And Jehovah God formed every animal of the field, and every bird of the heavens out of the ground. And He brought them to the man, to see what he would call it. And all which the man might call it, each living soul, that was its name.

Genesis 7:6
Noah was a son of six hundred years, and the flood of waters was on the earth.

Genesis 7:9
two by two, as God had commanded Noah, they went into the ark, male and female.

Genesis 7:11
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, in the seventeenth day of the month, in this day all the fountains of the great deep were risen, and the windows of the heavens were opened up.

Genesis 7:12
And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.

Genesis 7:16
And those going in went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him. And Jehovah shut him within.

Isaiah 65:25
The wolf and the lamb shall feed as one; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And dust is the food of the snake. They shall not do evil nor destroy in all My holy mountain, says Jehovah.

Jeremiah 8:7
Also the stork in the heavens knows her seasons, and the turtledove and the swallow and the thrush observe the time of their coming. But My people do not know the judgment of Jehovah.

Galatians 3:28
There cannot be Jew nor Greek, there is no slave nor freeman, there is no male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3:11
where there is no Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, foreigner, Scythian, slave or freeman, but Christ is all things and in all.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he said unto them,.... He continued his discourse, saying,

full well, or "fairly",

ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition: these words may be considered, as spoken ironically, thus; as pious and excellently good men, you in a very fair and handsome manner, reject and make void the commandments and laws of God; and it is very fit it should be so, in order to preserve your own traditions, that nothing may be wanting to keep up the honour of them, and a due regard to them. The Arabic version reads the words by way of interrogation, "is it fit that you should omit the commandments of God, and keep your own statutes?" and so the Ethiopic, "do ye rightly make void the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own commandment?" Which makes them come nearer to the passage in Matthew; :-.

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 7:9. Full well — καλωσ , -a strong irony. How noble is your conduct! From conscientious attachment to your own traditions ye have annihilated the commandments of God!

That ye may keep — But στησητε, that ye may establish, is the reading of D, three others, Syriac, all the Itala, with Cyprian, Jerome, and Zeno. Griesbach thinks it should be received instead of the other. God's law was nothing to these men, in comparison of their own: hear a case in point. "Rabba said, How foolish are most men! They observe the precepts of the Divine law, and neglect the statutes of the rabbins!" Maccoth, fol. 22.