Mark 7:18
 Mark 7:18 
New International Version (©2011)
"Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them?

New Living Translation (©2007)
"Don't you understand either?" he asked. "Can't you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you?

English Standard Version (©2001)
And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him,

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
And He said to them, "Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him,

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
And He said to them, "Are you also as lacking in understanding? Don't you realize that nothing going into a man from the outside can defile him?

International Standard Version (©2012)
He asked them, "Are you so ignorant? Don't you know that nothing that goes into a person from the outside can make him unclean?

NET Bible (©2006)
He said to them, "Are you so foolish? Don't you understand that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him?

Aramaic Bible in Plain English (©2010)
He said to them, “Are you also stupid? Do you not know that nothing entering from outside a man can defile him?”

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand? Don't you know that whatever goes into a person from the outside can't make him unclean?

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
And he said unto them, Are you so without understanding also? Do you not perceive, that whatsoever thing from outside enters into the man, it cannot defile him;

American King James Version
And he said to them, Are you so without understanding also? Do you not perceive, that whatever thing from without enters into the man, it cannot defile him;

American Standard Version
And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Perceive ye not, that whatsoever from without goeth into the man, it cannot defile him;

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he saith to them: So are you also without knowledge? understand you not that every thing from without, entering into a man cannot defile him:

Darby Bible Translation
And he says to them, Are ye also thus unintelligent? Do ye not perceive that all that is outside entering into the man cannot defile him,

English Revised Version
And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Perceive ye not, that whatsoever from without goeth into the man, it cannot defile him;

Webster's Bible Translation
And he saith to them, Are ye so void of understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him.

Weymouth New Testament
"Have *you* also so little understanding?" He replied; "do you not understand that anything whatever that enters a man from outside cannot make him unclean,

World English Bible
He said to them, "Are you thus without understanding also? Don't you perceive that whatever goes into the man from outside can't defile him,

Young's Literal Translation
and he saith to them, 'So also ye are without understanding! Do ye not perceive that nothing from without entering into the man is able to defile him?

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:14-23 Our wicked thoughts and affections, words and actions, defile us, and these only. As a corrupt fountain sends forth corrupt streams, so does a corrupt heart send forth corrupt reasonings, corrupt appetites and passions, and all the wicked words and actions that come from them. A spiritual understanding of the law of God, and a sense of the evil of sin, will cause a man to seek for the grace of the Holy Spirit, to keep down the evil thoughts and affections that work within.


Pulpit Commentary

Verses 18, 19. - Our Lord had already, in his sermon on the mount, taught his disciples fully wherein purity or impurity of heart consists, and he might, therefore, with good reason, ask them how it was that they, even they who had been so favored by being constantly with him, had forgotten or misunderstood him. Our Lord's illustration is physically accurate. The portion carried off is that which by its removal purifies what remains. The part which is available for nourishment is, in its passage through the system, converted into chyle, the matter from which the blood is formed. What is not available for nourishment passes away into the ἀφεδρών, or draught, Purging all meats. The most approved reading here is undoubtedly the masculine (καθαρἰζων), and not the neuter (καθαρίζον). This change of reading compels a somewhat different construction. Accepting, therefore, the masculine as the true reading, the only possible rendering is that which makes this last clause a comment by the evangelist upon our Lord's previous words, in which he indicates to the reader that our Lord intended by this illustration to show that no food, of whatever kind, when received with thanksgiving, can make a man unclean. The clause must, therefore, be connected with the preceding words, by the introduction of the words, in italics, "This he said, making all meats clean." The passage, thus rendered, becomes a very significant exposition of what has gone before. It is well worthy of notice that this explanation is to be found in St. Chrysostom (Homily on St. Matthew 15.): Ὁ δὲ Μάρκος φησὶν ὅτι καθαρίζων τὰ βρώματα ταῦτα ἔλεγεν: "But Mark affirms that he said these things, making the meats clean." It may be added that this explanation agrees finely with the words in Acts 10:15, "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common."


Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he saith unto them,.... With some warmth of spirit and resentment, at their stupidity:

are ye so without understanding also? As well as others, and to such a degree; and "yet", as Matthew expresses it, Matthew 15:16, so wretchedly stupid, and so long, and as much, as others:

do ye not perceive? common sense will tell you,

that whatsoever thing from, without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; See Gill on Matthew 15:16.


Mark 7:18 Parallel Commentaries

Mark 7:18 NIV
Mark 7:18 NLT
Mark 7:18 ESV
Mark 7:18 NASB
Mark 7:18 KJV

Bible Hub: Online Parallel Bible


What Defiles a Man
17And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable. 18And he said to them, Are you so without understanding also? Do you not perceive, that whatever thing from without enters into the man, it cannot defile him; 19Because it enters not into his heart, but into the belly, and goes out into the draught, purging all meats? …

Matthew 15:11 What goes into someone's mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them."
Mark 7:17 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable.
Mark 7:19 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.)