InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEUT JOB YEHO (JOS) HERO (JDG) RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG YOEL (JOEL) MIC ISA ZEP HAB YIR (JER) LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBAD DAN EZEK EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL 2 PS WIS TOB MAN BAR G DAN G ESD L ESD ESG JDT 3 MAC SIR 1 MAC 2 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL LAOD PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
InterlinearVerse Mark C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16
Mark 7 V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V18 V19 V20 V21 V22 V23 V24 V25 V26 V27 V28 V29 V30 V31 V32 V33 V34 V35 V36 V37
People tagged in the matching LV passage: Jesus Christ
Dictionary: Jesus
Used in these topics: Sin and our need of salvation
OET-LV And when he_came_in into the_house from the crowd, the apprentices/followers of_him were_asking him the parable.
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.
After Jesus had left the crowd and gone into the house,
¶ Then Jesus left the crowd and entered the house,
¶ After Jesus finished teaching, he left the crowd and entered the house where they were staying.
After Jesus had left the crowd and gone into the house: In some languages, it may be more natural to make 7:17a into a separate sentence. For example:
Then he left the crowd and entered the house
After he finished teaching, he left the crowd and entered the house
His disciples inquired about the parable.
and his disciples asked him about this saying.
His followers asked him the meaning of what he had said.
His disciples: The Greek word that the BSB translates as disciples means “learners” who are in a relationship with a teacher. The learners commit themselves to their teacher in order to learn from him and live according to his teaching and example. In the New Testament disciples often lived with their teacher and followed him wherever he went.
Here are some other ways to translate disciples:
students/learners
apprentices
followers
See how you translated this term at 2:15b and 7:2a. See also disciple in the Glossary for more information.
parable: In this context the word parable describes what Jesus said to the people in 7:14–16. The Greek word that the BSB translates as parable is used to describe different types of wise speech like proverbs, illustrations, and metaphors. You will need to read 7:14–16 carefully. Then consider how you would describe this type of speech in your language.
Here are some other ways that English versions have translated parable in this context:
his disciples asked him to explain this saying (GNT)
his disciples asked him about this illustration (GW)
his disciples asked him what he meant by the statement he had made (NLT96)
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / synecdoche
εἰσῆλθεν
˱he˲_came_in
Mark is referring to Jesus to represent both Jesus and his disciples, who traveled with Jesus. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [he, along with his disciples, entered]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄχλου
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ὅτε εἰσῆλθεν εἰς οἶκον ἀπό τοῦ ὄχλου ἐπηρώτων αὐτόν οἱ μαθηταί αὐτοῦ τήν παραβολήν)
Here Mark implies that when Jesus entered into a house, he was avoiding or getting away from the crowd. If it would be helpful in your language, you could make that idea more explicit. Alternate translation: [where they were not with the crowd] or [to avoid the crowd]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicitinfo
τὴν παραβολήν
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ὅτε εἰσῆλθεν εἰς οἶκον ἀπό τοῦ ὄχλου ἐπηρώτων αὐτόν οἱ μαθηταί αὐτοῦ τήν παραβολήν)
Here the disciples ask Jesus to explain the parable about things that go into and out of a person (see 7:15). Alternate translation: [the parable about what goes into a person]
OET-LV And when he_came_in into the_house from the crowd, the apprentices/followers of_him were_asking him the parable.
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.
Open Bible Data site copyright © 2023–2026 Freely-Given.org.
Python source code for creating these static pages is available on GitHub under an open licence.
For Bible data copyrights, see the details for each displayed Bible version.
Visit the Open English Translation (OET) main site.