Mark 7:1-8 ▼

1 Then the Pharisees, and some of the scribes gathered together to him, having come from Jerusalem.

2 Now when they saw that some of his disciples ate bread with defiled, that is, unwashed, hands, they found fault.

3 (For the Pharisees, and all Jewish people, do not eat unless they wash their hands and forearms, holding to the Tradition of the Elders.

4 They do not eat when they come from the marketplace unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold to, the washing of cups and pitchers and copper vessels and dining couches.)

5 The Pharisees and the scribes asked him, |Why do your disciples not walk according to the Tradition of the Elders, but eat their bread with unwashed hands?|

6 He said to them, |Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

7 And in vain do they worship me, teaching instructions that are the commandments of humans.'

8 |Having left the commandment of God, you hold tightly to human tradition.|