MARK 7:7 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 7:1–23: Jesus explained what makes a person unclean

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.

Paragraph 7:6–13

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.

7:7a

They worship Me in vain;

They bow before me uselessly.
They praise me without any result.
The ceremonies you^(plur) perform to try to please me are useless/worthless,

They: When Isaiah spoke, the word They referred to the Jewish people who did not worship God properly. In this context, the word They refers to the Pharisees and teachers of the law. If you have used a second-person pronoun (“you people”) in 7:6b, it will probably be best to continue using the second person (you) here.

worship: The Greek word that the BSB translates as worship means to express devotion and reverence for God or for other gods or idols. Some of the ways that people worship God are giving offerings and sacrifices, praying, bowing down or kneeling to show respect and submission, serving him obediently, and speaking or singing about him.

In this context the meaning of worship is similar to the meaning of honor in 7:6c.

Here are some other ways to translate worship in this context:

They serve/worship me

Their reverence of me (NJB)

Me: The word Me again refers to God.

in vain: The Greek word that the BSB translates in vain means “to no purpose,” “uselessly,” or “without result.” For example:

It is no use for them to worship me (GNT)

Their worship of me is worthless. (NCV)

7:7b

they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’

Their teachings are only/merely rules taught by men.’
They teach only their man-made rules instead of my laws.’
because you^(plur) replace what God commands with your own laws/ideas.’ ”

The clause in 7:7b explains the manner in which people were not honoring God and how they were worshiping without purpose. Some translations make this clear by adding a connecting word. For example:

for they teach as doctrines the commandments of men (REB)

because their teachings are rules made by humans (GW)

they teach as doctrine the precepts of men: The Greek clause that the BSB translates as they teach as doctrine the precepts of men indicates that the Pharisees and teachers of the law taught their own man-made rules instead of the laws that came from God. For example:

The things they teach are nothing but human rules. (NCV)

for they replace God’s commands with their own man-made teachings (NLT96)

they teach: The pronoun they refers to the Pharisees and scribes.

General Comment on 7:6b–7b

In some languages, it will be more natural to translate the passage from Isaiah as an indirect quote. This will mean changing the pronoun “me” to “God” or “him.” For example:

^6bIt is written that God said that ^6cthese people honor God/him with their lips, ^6dbut their hearts are far from him. ^7aThey worship him in vain; ^7btheir teachings are but rules taught by men.

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-words-phrases

δὲ

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: μάτην Δέ σέβονται μέ διδάσκοντες διδασκαλίας ἐντάλματα ἀνθρώπων)

Here, the word But introduces the next idea in the quotation. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a word or phrase that introduces the next idea, or you could leave But untranslated. Alternate translation: [Further,]

Note 2 topic: grammar-connect-logic-result

διδάσκοντες

teaching

Here, the word teaching introduces a reason why their worship is in vain. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a word or phrase that introduces a reason. Alternate translation: [since they teach]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

διδασκαλίας ἐντάλματα ἀνθρώπων

˱as˲_teachings ˓the˒_commandments ˱of˲_humans

If your language does not use abstract nouns for the ideas of doctrines and commandments, you could express the same ideas in another way. Alternate translation: [as authoritative what men have commanded]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / possession

ἐντάλματα ἀνθρώπων

˓the˒_commandments ˱of˲_humans

Here, Isaiah is using the possessive form to describe commandments that are given by men. If this is not clear in your language, you could express the idea in another way. Alternate translation: [things commanded by men]

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / gendernotations

ἀνθρώπων

˱of˲_humans

Although the term men is masculine, Isaiah 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: [of people]

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

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.