Mark 7:1-9 ▼

1 The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus.

2 They noticed that some of his disciples were eating with unclean hands, that is, without washing them.

3 (The Pharisees—and indeed all the Jewish people—don't eat unless they wash their hands properly, following the tradition of their elders.

4 They don't eat anything from the marketplace unless they dip it in water. They also observe many other traditions, such as the proper washing of washing cups, jars, brass pots, and dinner tables.)

5 So the Pharisees and the scribes asked Jesus, |Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders? Instead, they eat with unclean hands.|

6 He told them, |Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. As it is written, 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

7 Their worship of me is worthless, because they teach human rules as doctrines.'

8 You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.|

9 Then he told them, |You have such a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your own tradition!