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OET (OET-LV) Not the thing coming_in into the mouth is_defiling the person, but the thing going_out out_of the mouth, this is_defiling the person.
OET (OET-RV) It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you, but rather, it’s what comes out of your mouth.”
Over the years, Jewish religious leaders added many oral rules to God’s written laws. The Pharisees and teachers of the law considered these oral rules (also called traditions) to be as important as God’s written laws. One of their rules was that a person must wash his hands a certain way before he ate food. If a Jew did not follow this rule before he ate, they considered him ceremonially “unclean.” This meant that they did not allow him to worship God in public for a certain amount of time. Jesus made it clear that there was something far more important than how a person washed his hands. The important thing was the condition of his heart.
Here are some other possible headings for this section:
Jesus Challenges the Pharisees’ Traditions (GW)
Jesus Teaches about Inner Purity/Cleanliness
There are parallel passages for this section in Mark 7:1–23 and Luke 11:37–39.
A man is not defiled by what enters his mouth,
The thing that makes a person unclean in God's eyes is not the thing that he puts in his mouth.
The food that people put into their mouths doesn’t make them unfit before God.
A man is not defiled by what enters his mouth: The Greek word that the BSB translates as defiled means “made unclean or made something ritually unacceptable.” Many English versions translate this word as “unclean.” In this context, it means “unfit before God.” It does not mean “dirty.”
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
It is not what people put into their mouths that makes them unclean (NCV)
the thing that makes a person unclean in God’s eyes is not what he puts into his mouth
The food that you put into your mouth does not make you unfit before God
but by what comes out of it.”
Instead, it’s the evil words that come out of his mouth that make him unclean.”
The thing that makes people unfit before God is what comes out of their mouths.”
but: There is a contrast here. The contrast is between what goes into a person’s mouth (15:11a) and what comes out of a person’s mouth (15:11b).
Here are some other ways to introduce this contrast:
instead
rather
by what comes out of it: The phrase what comes out of it refers to the words that a person says. The words that a person says show what is in his heart. If someone is right before God, he will say things that show that he is righteous. But if someone is not right before God, he will say things that show that he is not righteous. These bad words are what defile a person before God.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
it is what comes out of his mouth that makes him unclean/unacceptable in God’s eyes
the things that make people unclean before God are the words that come out of their mouths
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
τὸ εἰσερχόμενον εἰς τὸ στόμα
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Οὒ τό εἰσερχόμενον εἰς τό στόμα κοινοῖ τόν ἄνθρωπον ἀλλά τό ἐκπορευόμενον ἐκ τοῦ στόματος τοῦτο κοινοῖ τόν ἄνθρωπον)
Here Jesus is referring to food and drink, which are what people put into their mouths. You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [The food and drink that the man puts into his mouth]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / genericnoun
τὸ στόμα & τὸν ἄνθρωπον & τοῦ στόματος & τὸν ἄνθρωπον
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Οὒ τό εἰσερχόμενον εἰς τό στόμα κοινοῖ τόν ἄνθρωπον ἀλλά τό ἐκπορευόμενον ἐκ τοῦ στόματος τοῦτο κοινοῖ τόν ἄνθρωπον)
The phrases the mouth and the man represent men and their mouths in general, not one particular man and his mouth. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the idea in another way. Alternate translation: [someone’s mouth … that person … someone’s mouth … that person]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / gendernotations
(Occurrence -1) τὸν ἄνθρωπον
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Οὒ τό εἰσερχόμενον εἰς τό στόμα κοινοῖ τόν ἄνθρωπον ἀλλά τό ἐκπορευόμενον ἐκ τοῦ στόματος τοῦτο κοινοῖ τόν ἄνθρωπον)
Although the term man is masculine, Jesus is using the word in a generic sense that includes both men and women. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a phrase that makes this clear. Alternate translation: [the person … the person]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / explicitinfo
τὸ ἐκπορευόμενον ἐκ τοῦ στόματος, τοῦτο
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Οὒ τό εἰσερχόμενον εἰς τό στόμα κοινοῖ τόν ἄνθρωπον ἀλλά τό ἐκπορευόμενον ἐκ τοῦ στόματος τοῦτο κοινοῖ τόν ἄνθρωπον)
Here, the word this refers directly back to what comes out from the mouth. Jesus expresses the idea in this way to introduce what comes out from the mouth and then explain what it does. If stating the topic and then referring back to it with the word this would be redundant in your language, you could omit the redundant information. Alternate translation: [what comes out from the mouth]
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
τὸ ἐκπορευόμενον ἐκ τοῦ στόματος
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Οὒ τό εἰσερχόμενον εἰς τό στόμα κοινοῖ τόν ἄνθρωπον ἀλλά τό ἐκπορευόμενον ἐκ τοῦ στόματος τοῦτο κοινοῖ τόν ἄνθρωπον)
Here Jesus is referring to words, which are what come out of people’s mouths. You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [the words that come out of his mouth]
Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / go
ἐκπορευόμενον
going_out
In a context such as this, your language might say “goes” instead of comes. Alternate translation: [goes out]
15:11 what goes into your mouth: Jesus was speaking here either of foods that were not permitted (e.g., pork or shellfish) or of food contaminated by unclean hands (15:20).
• That which defiles makes a person unfit for communion with God. Jesus pressed the matter beyond ceremonial purity to true inner purity (see 15:18-19; 23:25-26; Acts 10:1-48; Rom 14:14).
• One’s words are a measure of one’s character (see Matt 15:18-20; Jas 3:1-12).
OET (OET-LV) Not the thing coming_in into the mouth is_defiling the person, but the thing going_out out_of the mouth, this is_defiling the person.
OET (OET-RV) It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you, but rather, it’s what comes out of your mouth.”
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.