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This section (7:1–23) deals with the difference between ritual uncleanness and real moral uncleanness. Ritual uncleanness is external, but real uncleanness involves the inner being of a person. Mark introduced this topic by describing an incident in which the Pharisees and teachers of the law rebuked Jesus. They did this because his disciples ate without first performing the hand-washing ceremony required by Jewish tradition (7:1–5).
Jesus did not respond to their rebuke directly. Instead, he gave an example of how these leaders ignored God’s law in order to follow their own traditions (7:6–13). Jesus then explained to the crowd that true uncleanness in God’s sight is not caused by external things. It is not caused by things such as food going into the body. True uncleanness is caused by sinful things that a person does or says. Those things come from a person’s inner being (7:14–23).
It is good to translate this section before you decide on a heading for it.
Here are some other possible headings for this section:
Ritual uncleanness is not what causes God to consider a person unclean
Jesus teaches about what defiles a person
There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 15:1–20 and Luke 11:37–39.
In this paragraph, Jesus responded to the rebuke of the Pharisees and teachers of the law. But he did not explain to them directly why his disciples did not follow the tradition of the Jewish ancestors. Instead he told them that they fulfilled a prophecy from Isaiah about people who followed human traditions rather than God’s laws (7:6–8). He then gave a specific example of one of God’s laws that they prevented people from obeying. They did this by insisting that people follow the traditions of the ancestors (7:9–13) instead of God’s law.
he is no longer permitted to do anything for his father or mother.
then from then on he is not allowed to do his duty to help his father and mother.
then you(plur) no longer allow that person to help his mother or father as God’s commandment teaches.
When that happens, starting from then, you(plur) do not allow/permit him to do anything for his parents.
Here Jesus gives the effect or result of the condition stated in 7:11b–d. You should connect 7:11 with 7:12 in the way that is natural in your language. For example, the NIV says:
then you no longer let him do anything
he is no longer permitted to: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as he is no longer permitted to means:
you no longer allow/permit him
he is forbidden from that moment (NJB)
Jesus was rebuking the Pharisees and teachers of the law. He told them that they were responsible for people disobeying God’s commands. They did not allow people to do what God had told them to do.
do anything: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as do anything refers to any practical help the person might give his parents. This included money or food to make their lives easier.
In many languages it may be necessary to break up this sentence into two or more shorter sentences. For example:
11aBut this is your teaching: 11bSuppose a man says to his father or mother, 11c–d“I have dedicated my belongings to God and cannot use it to help you.” 12Then you do not permit him to use those things to help them.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / doublenegatives
οὐκέτι ἀφίετε αὐτὸν οὐδὲν ποιῆσαι
no_longer ˱you_all˲_˓are˒_allowing (Some words not found in SR-GNT: οὐκέτι ἀφίετε αὐτόν οὐδέν ποιῆσαι τῷ πατρί ἤ τῇ μητρί)
The words translated no longer and anything are two negative words. In this construction, the second negative does not cancel the first to create a positive meaning. Instead, it gives greater emphasis to the negative. If your language can use two negatives that do not cancel one another to create a positive meaning, you could use a double negative here. If your language does not use two negatives in that way, you could translate with one strong negative, as the ULT does. Alternate translation: [you permit him to do nothing any longer] or [you certainly do not permit him to do anything any longer]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / gendernotations
αὐτὸν & τῷ πατρὶ ἢ τῇ μητρί
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: οὐκέτι ἀφίετε αὐτόν οὐδέν ποιῆσαι τῷ πατρί ἤ τῇ μητρί)
Although the terms him, his, and his are masculine, Jesus is using the words 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: [that person … for his or her father or mother]
7:1-23 This account has no direct connection with what precedes it. It assumes only a context such as “Once in the ministry of Jesus.” After setting the scene (7:1-4), Mark introduces the Pharisees’ question (7:5), followed by Jesus’ response (7:6-23). The first part of Jesus’ response (7:6-13) centers around two Old Testament passages and a twofold attack on the Pharisees’ traditions (7:6-8, 9-13). In the second part (7:14-23), Jesus teaches about what does and does not truly defile.
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.