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Mark7:1–13

The Tradition of the Elders

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Mark 7:1–13 — The Tradition of the Elders. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

1

Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai hoi Pharisaioi kai tines tōn grammateōn elthontes apo Hierosolymōn synagontai pros auton

Word by word13 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiThenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ΦαρισαῖοιPharisaioiPhariseesG5330
√ Φαρισαῖος — a separatist, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
Φαρισαῖος: a separatist The party name itself encodes the question of the unit. Separation is not the error; the error, as the whole passage will argue, is separation fixed at the hands rather than the heart. Geneva puts the paradox sharply: the wisest resist the wisdom of God out of zeal for traditions of their own devising.
καίkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τινεςtinessomeG5100
√ τὶς — some or any person or objectInterrogative / Indefinite PronounNominative Masculine Plural
τῶνtōnof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
γραμματέωνgrammateōnscribesG1122
√ γραμματεύς — scribe, town-clerkNounGenitive Masculine Plural
γραμματεύς: scribe, town-clerk The professional copyists and jurists of the written Law. Gill notes that these were not local Galileans but men of Jerusalem, the most artful of the whole sect; Cambridge reads the joint appearance of Galilean and Judaean Pharisees as a combination already concerted.
ἐλθόντεςelthonteswho had comeG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἔρχομαι: to come or go Aorist participle: the coming is finished before the gathering begins. The distance from Jerusalem is itself part of Mark's evidence that this was a deputation and not an accident of the road.
ἀπὸapofromG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
ἹεροσολύμωνHierosolymōnJerusalemG2414
√ Ἱεροσόλυμα — Hierosolyma (iNounGenitive Neuter Plural
συνάγονταιsynagontaigathered aroundG4863
√ συνάγω — to lead together, iVerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Plural
συνάγω: to lead together A present-tense verb of assembling set against the aorist of coming: they have arrived, and now they close in. Mark uses no verb of accusation yet; the hostility is carried entirely by the convergence.
πρὸςpros. . .G4314
√ πρός — a preposition of directionPreposition
αὐτὸνauton[Jesus]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
2

and they saw some of His disciples eating with hands that were defiled—that is, unwashed.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai idontes hoti tinas tōn autou mathētōn esthiousin tous artous chersin koinais tout’ estin aniptois

Word by word15 · parsed
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἰδόντεςidontesthey sawG3708
√ ὁράω — by extension, to attend toVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
ὁράω: to see, to attend to Aorist participle. Since Pulpit judges the clause “they found fault” an interpolation absent from the best authorities, this participle carries the whole weight of the observers' posture: the surveillance is the accusation.
ὅτιhotiG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
τινὰςtinassomeG5100
√ τὶς — some or any person or objectInterrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Masculine Plural
τῶνtōnofG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
αὐτοῦautouHisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
μαθητῶνmathētōndisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounGenitive Masculine Plural
ἐσθίουσινesthiousineatingG2068
√ ἐσθίω — used only in certain tenses, the rest being supplied by G5315 (φάγω)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
τοὺςtous. . .G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
ἄρτουςartous. . .G740
√ ἄρτος — bread (as raised) or a loafNounAccusative Masculine Plural
ἄρτος: bread, a loaf Dropped from the English. Geneva records that “eat bread” is a Hebrew idiom for taking food of any kind, so the phrase is not about bread as such but about a shared table.
χερσίνchersin[with] handsG5495
√ χείρ — the hand (literally or figuratively (power)NounDative Feminine Plural
κοιναῖςkoinais[that were] defiledG2839
√ κοινός — common, iAdjectiveDative Feminine Plural
κοινός: common The pivot word of the whole unit, and of the wider question Acts will reopen. It names not dirt but non-separation. The disciples' hands are not filthy: Cambridge insists they doubtless washed, but not ceremonially. What offends is that their hands are undifferentiated, ordinary, like everyone else's.
τοῦτ’tout’thatG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Neuter Singular
ἔστινestinisG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἀνίπτοιςaniptoisunwashedG449
√ ἄνιπτος — without ablutionAdjectiveDative Feminine Plural
ἄνιπτος: without ablution A rare adjective (two verses in the New Testament by the Verifier's count), and here an authorial aside. Mark's habit of translating Jewish practice for outsiders is the same habit that will later translate Korban in verse 11.
3

Now in holding to the tradition of the elders, the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat until they wash their hands ceremonially.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

gar kratountes tēn paradosin tōn presbyterōn Hoi Pharisaioi kai pantes hoi Ioudaioi ouk esthiousin ean mē nipsōntai tas cheiras pygmē

Word by word20 · parsed
γὰρgarNowG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
κρατοῦντεςkratountesin holdingG2902
√ κρατέω — to use strength, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
κρατέω: to use strength, to hold fast A verb of grip, not of custody. It is the hinge word of the unit's moral arithmetic: at verse 3 they grip the tradition, at verse 8 Jesus repeats the same verb against them while the commandment of God has been let go. What a hand holds is the question the hand-washing dispute was never asking.
τὴνtēnto theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
παράδοσινparadosintraditionG3862
√ παράδοσις — transmission, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
παράδοσις: transmission, that which is handed over Cambridge sets out the Jewish distinction between the Written Law and the Unwritten Law said to have been delivered orally to Moses and transmitted through the Elders; Pulpit says the Pharisees claimed Sinai itself for this oral chain. The Greek word is neutral: everything depends on who does the handing.
τῶνtōnof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
πρεσβυτέρωνpresbyterōneldersG4245
√ πρεσβύτερος — olderAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
ΟἱHoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ΦαρισαῖοιPharisaioiPhariseesG5330
√ Φαρισαῖος — a separatist, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
πάντεςpantesallG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ἸουδαῖοιIoudaioiJewsG2453
√ Ἰουδαῖος — Judæan, iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
οὐκouk{do} notG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
ἐσθίουσινesthiousineatG2068
√ ἐσθίω — used only in certain tenses, the rest being supplied by G5315 (φάγω)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἐὰνeanuntilG1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
μὴmē. . .G3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
νίψωνταιnipsōntaithey washG3538
√ νίπτω — to cleanse (especially the hands or the feet or the face)VerbAorist Subjunctive Middle3rd Person Plural
νίπτω: to cleanse the hands, feet or face Aorist subjunctive middle under a negative condition: no eating until the washing has been completed. The middle voice is exact, since the washing is something done to oneself, which is the theological point Isaiah will be brought in to make.
τὰςtas[their]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Plural
χεῖραςcheirashandsG5495
√ χείρ — the hand (literally or figuratively (power)NounAccusative Feminine Plural
πυγμῇpygmēceremoniallyG4435
√ πυγμή — the clenched hand, iNounDative Feminine Singular
πυγμή: the clenched fist The unit's hardest word, and the commentators divide. Barnes derives “diligently, carefully, sedulously” from the rubbing motion; Benson reports Theophylact's “up to the elbow” and judges that sense unusual for the word while granting it may give the evangelist's meaning; Pulpit prefers the Syriac witness for “diligently.” We record the disagreement rather than resolve it.
4

And on returning from the market, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions for them to observe, including the washing of cups, pitchers, kettles, and couches for dining.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai ap’ agoras ouk esthiousin ean mē baptisōntai kai estin polla alla parelabon ha kratein baptismous potēriōn kai xestōn kai chalkiōn kai klinōn

Word by word23 · parsed
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀπ’ap’[on returning] fromG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
ἀγορᾶςagorasthe marketG58
√ ἀγορά — probably akin to G1453 (ἐγείρω))NounGenitive Feminine Singular
ἀγορά: market place The place of unavoidable mixture. Ellicott reads the returning bath not as hygiene but as arrogant exclusiveness: contact in the crowd with a Gentile was reckoned as defiling as contact with a corpse. Gill cites the rule that a Pharisee touched even in his garments by the common people needed immersion, and walked at the side of the street to avoid it.
οὐκoukvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
ἐσθίουσινesthiousinthey do not eatG2068
√ ἐσθίω — used only in certain tenses, the rest being supplied by G5315 (φάγω)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἐὰνeanunlessG1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
μὴmē. . .G3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
βαπτίσωνταιbaptisōntaithey washG907
√ βαπτίζω — to immerse, submergeVerbAorist Subjunctive Middle3rd Person Plural
βαπτίζω: to immerse, submerge The escalation from verse 3 is deliberate: hands for a meal, the body for the market. The middle voice keeps the action reflexive throughout. Note that Mark uses the baptism verb for a purification that saves no one, which is exactly the contrast the unit will press.
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐστινestinthere areG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
πολλάpollamanyG4183
√ πολύς — (singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) manyAdjectiveNominative Neuter Plural
ἄλλαallaotherG243
√ ἄλλος — "else," iAdjectiveNominative Neuter Plural
παρέλαβονparelabontraditions for themG3880
√ παραλαμβάνω — to receive near, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
παραλαμβάνω: to receive near, to receive from another The passive side of tradition. Nothing in the word is blameworthy; the whole question is the hand it was received from, which verse 8 answers with “of men.”
ἃhaG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounAccusative Neuter Plural
κρατεῖνkrateinto observeG2902
√ κρατέω — to use strength, iVerbPresent Infinitive Active
βαπτισμοὺςbaptismous[including] the washingG909
√ βαπτισμός — ablution (ceremonial or Christian)NounAccusative Masculine Plural
βαπτισμός: ablution A rare noun, found by the Verifier in only four verses. Barnes argues at length from “the baptism of couches” that the word cannot everywhere mean total immersion; that is a later controversy read back into Mark, and we mark it as Barnes's argument, not Mark's.
ποτηρίωνpotēriōnof cupsG4221
√ ποτήριον — a drinking-vesselNounGenitive Neuter Plural
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ξεστῶνxestōnpitchersG3582
√ ξέστης — by implication, (of friction) to boil or heat)NounGenitive Masculine Plural
ξέστης: a sextarius measure A Latin word in Greek dress. Cambridge notes Tyndale and Cranmer rendered it “cruses.” Small details like this are part of the evidence that Mark writes for a Roman audience, the same instinct that makes him translate “common” and “Korban.”
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
χαλκίωνchalkiōnkettlesG5473
√ χαλκίον — a copper dishNounGenitive Neuter Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
κλινῶνklinōncouches for diningG2825
√ κλίνη — a couch (for sleep, sickness, sitting or eating)NounGenitive Feminine Plural
κλίνη: a couch The list climbs from what touches the mouth to what carries the body, and the reason, on Ellicott's reading, is uniform: a heathen might have drunk from it or lain on it. Purity has become a map of whom one has not touched.
5

So the Pharisees and scribes questioned Jesus: “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders? Instead, they eat with defiled hands.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai hoi Pharisaioi kai hoi grammateis eperōtōsin auton Dia ti sou hoi mathētai ou peripatousin kata tēn paradosin tōn presbyterōn alla esthiousin ton arton koinais chersin

Word by word26 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiSoG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ΦαρισαῖοιPharisaioiPhariseesG5330
√ Φαρισαῖος — a separatist, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
γραμματεῖςgrammateisscribesG1122
√ γραμματεύς — scribe, town-clerkNounNominative Masculine Plural
ἐπερωτῶσινeperōtōsinquestionedG1905
√ ἐπερωτάω — to ask for, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἐπερωτάω: to interrogate Present tense, and directed past the disciples to Jesus himself. Benson reads the pretended concern for sacred institutions as a strategy to make Jesus detested by the people as a deceiver.
αὐτὸνauton[Jesus]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ΔιὰDiaWhyG1223
√ διά — through (in very wide applications, local, causal, or occasional)Preposition
τίti. . .G5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
σουsou{do} YourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
μαθηταίmathētaidisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
οὐounotG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
περιπατοῦσινperipatousinwalkG4043
√ περιπατέω — to tread all around, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
περιπατέω: to walk about The Hebrew idiom for conduct, which Geneva names outright. It makes their question a question about halakhah, the path one walks, and so invites the answer Jesus gives, which is about the heart that sets the feet moving.
κατὰkataaccording toG2596
√ κατά — (prepositionally) down (in place or time), in varied relations (according to the case (genitive, dative or accusative) with which it is joined)Preposition
τὴνtēntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
παράδοσινparadosintraditionG3862
√ παράδοσις — transmission, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
παράδοσις: that which is handed over Second occurrence, now as a standard of judgment. Gill sets Ezekiel 20:18 against them: do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, but in the statutes of the Lord.
τῶνtōnof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
πρεσβυτέρωνpresbyterōneldersG4245
√ πρεσβύτερος — olderAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
ἀλλὰallaInsteadG235
√ ἀλλά — properly, other things, iConjunction
ἐσθίουσινesthiousinthey eatG2068
√ ἐσθίω — used only in certain tenses, the rest being supplied by G5315 (φάγω)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
τὸνton. . .G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἄρτονarton. . .G740
√ ἄρτος — bread (as raised) or a loafNounAccusative Masculine Singular
κοιναῖςkoinaiswith defiledG2839
√ κοινός — common, iAdjectiveDative Feminine Plural
κοινός: common Third occurrence of the unit's key adjective, and the last time it is used as an accusation. From verse 6 onward the vocabulary of distance is no longer about hands.
χερσὶνchersinhandsG5495
√ χείρ — the hand (literally or figuratively (power)NounDative Feminine Plural
6

Jesus answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Ho eipen autois Ēsaias eprophēteusen Kalōs peri hymōn tōn hypokritōn hōs gegraptai hoti Houtos ho laos tima me tois cheilesin de autōn Hē kardia apechei porrō ap’ emou

Word by word29 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὉHoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
εἶπενeipenJesus answeredG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτοῖςautoisthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἨσαΐαςĒsaiasIsaiahG2268
√ Ἡσαΐας — Hesaias (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐπροφήτευσενeprophēteusenprophesiedG4395
√ προφητεύω — to foretell events, divine, speak under inspiration, exercise the prophetic officeVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ΚαλῶςKalōscorrectlyG2573
√ καλῶς — well (usually morally)Adverb
καλῶς: well, finely The single most rhetorically loaded word in the unit, and it is used twice (here and at verse 9) with opposite targets: beautifully did Isaiah prophesy, beautifully do you annul. Cambridge names the irony; Ellicott, at verse 9, hears in the repetition the ring of a scathing and indignant irony.
περὶperiaboutG4012
√ περί — properly, through (all over), iPreposition
ὑμῶνhymōnyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Plural
τῶνtōnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ὑποκριτῶνhypokritōnhypocritesG5273
√ ὑποκριτής — an actor under an assumed character (stage-player), iNounGenitive Masculine Plural
ὑποκριτής: a stage-player The word's theatrical root is exact for the charge: the lips are a performance, the heart is offstage. It is also the hinge that makes a seventh-century-BC oracle land on this audience. Pulpit is careful to say Isaiah did not have these men in mind, but that the Spirit in him described accurately those who would do the same things centuries later.
ὡςhōsasG5613
√ ὡς — which how, iAdverb
γέγραπταιgegraptaiit is writtenG1125
√ γράφω — to "grave", especially to writeVerbPerfect Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
γράφω: to grave, to write Perfect tense: the writing happened and its force stands. This is the unit's first appeal to a text, and everything after it (Moses said, but you say) is an argument about which words remain standing.
ὅτιhotiG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ΟὗτοςHoutosTheseG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Masculine Singular
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
λαὸςlaospeopleG2992
√ λαός — a people (in generalNounNominative Masculine Singular
τιμᾷtimahonorG5091
√ τιμάω — to prize, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τιμάω: to prize, to set a price on Watch this verb. Here the people honour God with lips only; at verse 10 the same verb is the commandment “Honour your father and your mother,” which the Korban rule voids. Mark's quotation and Mark's commandment share one word, and the unit turns on it.
μεmeMeG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative 1st Person Singular
τοῖςtoiswith [their]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Neuter Plural
χείλεσίνcheilesinlipsG5491
√ χεῖλος — a lip (as a pouring place)NounDative Neuter Plural
δὲdebutG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
αὐτῶνautōntheirG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἩHēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
καρδίαkardiaheartsG2588
√ καρδία — the heart, iNounNominative Feminine Singular
καρδία: the heart Set against χείλη, the lips. The whole dispute began at the hands; Isaiah relocates it inward, and from here the unit never returns to the hands. Gill: this was all lip labour, with no lifting up of the heart.
ἀπέχειapecheiareG568
√ ἀπέχω — (actively) to have out, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἀπέχω: to have out, to hold off Present active: the distance is being maintained, not merely suffered. Pulpit draws the just measure: those who gave God the words only were given the words only in return, the letter without the life.
πόρρωporrōfarG4206
√ πόῤῥω — forwards, iAdverb
ἀπ’ap’fromG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
ἐμοῦemouMeG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Singular
7

They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de sebontai me Matēn Didaskontes didaskalias entalmata anthrōpōn

Word by word8 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
σέβονταίsebontaiThey worshipG4576
√ σέβομαι — to revere, iVerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Plural
σέβομαι: to revere Ellicott's distinction matters theologically: the charge is not that they performed the rite without feeling, but that devotion itself, aimed by human precept, hit nothing. Sincerity is not the missing ingredient.
μεmeMeG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative 1st Person Singular
ΜάτηνMatēnin vainG3155
√ μάτην — folly, iAdverb
μάτην: emptiness, folly A rare adverb (two verses). It measures worship by outcome rather than by intention, and it is the verdict word of the Isaiah citation. Geneva draws the pastoral edge: the more earnest the superstitious are, the more confident they grow of God's favour on account of their deeds.
ΔιδάσκοντεςDidaskontesthey teachG1321
√ διδάσκω — to teach (in the same broad application)VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
διδασκαλίαςdidaskalias[as] doctrineG1319
√ διδασκαλία — instruction (the function or the information)NounAccusative Feminine Plural
διδασκαλία: instruction Accusative plural, the slot into which the human injunctions are placed. The offence is a category swap, not the existence of human teaching as such.
ἐντάλματαentalmata[the] preceptsG1778
√ ἔνταλμα — an injunction, iNounAccusative Neuter Plural
ἔνταλμα: an injunction A rare noun (three verses by the Verifier's count). Its rarity is what makes Colossians 2:22, which uses the same word with the same pairing of precepts and doctrines of men, a hard verbal link rather than a general echo.
ἀνθρώπωνanthrōpōnof menG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounGenitive Masculine Plural
8

You have disregarded the commandment of God to keep the tradition of men.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Aphentes tēn entolēn tou Theou krateite tēn paradosin tōn anthrōpōn

Word by word10 · parsed
ἈφέντεςAphentesYou have disregardedG863
√ ἀφίημι — an intensive form of , to go)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἀφίημι: to send away, let go Aorist participle, prior in time to the holding: the release of one thing was the condition of gripping the other. Barnes reads it as making the commandment give place, treating tradition as the higher authority. The hands that would not eat uncleanly have let go of something.
τὴνtēntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
ἐντολὴνentolēncommandmentG1785
√ ἐντολή — injunction, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
ἐντολή: injunction, commandment The singular, broad word. What is abandoned is not a rubric but the class of thing the Ten Words belong to, which verse 10 will make explicit by quoting one of them.
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ΘεοῦTheouof GodG2316
√ θεός — figuratively, a magistrateNounGenitive Masculine Singular
κρατεῖτεkrateiteto keepG2902
√ κρατέω — to use strength, iVerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
κρατέω: to hold fast Third occurrence of the grip verb (verses 3, 4, 8). Mark has let the reader watch the hand close before naming what it dropped.
τὴνtēntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
παράδοσινparadosintraditionG3862
√ παράδοσις — transmission, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
τῶνtōnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ἀνθρώπωνanthrōpōnof menG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounGenitive Masculine Plural
ἄνθρωπος: man The unit's simplest and most damaging word. Twice in two verses (7 and 8) human origin is the disqualifier, and the same genitive will stand behind “your tradition” at verses 9 and 13.
9

He went on to say, “You neatly set aside the command of God to maintain your own tradition.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai elegen autois Kalōs atheteite tēn entolēn tou Theou hina tērēsēte hymōn tēn paradosin

Word by word14 · parsed
ΚαὶKaivvvG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἔλεγενelegenHe went on to sayG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
λέγω: to lay forth, to say Imperfect: the rebuke continues. Mark's structure here is deliberate, since verses 6 to 8 argued from a prophet and verses 9 to 13 will argue from the Law, and the imperfect stitches the two proofs into one speech.
αὐτοῖςautoisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ΚαλῶςKalōsvvvG2573
√ καλῶς — well (usually morally)Adverb
καλῶς: well, finely The second of the unit's two ironic uses. Cambridge glosses the pair as “full well ye reject,” that is, finely do you set at naught and obliterate. The word that praised Isaiah's accuracy now praises their skill at repeal, and the repetition is the rhetorical spine of the whole answer.
ἀθετεῖτεatheteiteYou neatly set asideG114
√ ἀθετέω — to set aside, iVerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
ἀθετέω: to set aside, to annul A legal verb. Ellicott's parallels (Galatians 3:15 on a covenant that cannot be set aside once ratified, Hebrews 7:18 on the disannulling of a former commandment) show the register: this is the language of repealing an instrument, and it prepares for the even more technical ἀκυρόω at verse 13.
τὴνtēntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
ἐντολὴνentolēncommandG1785
√ ἐντολή — injunction, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ΘεοῦTheouof GodG2316
√ θεός — figuratively, a magistrateNounGenitive Masculine Singular
ἵναhinatoG2443
√ ἵνα — compare G3588 (ὁ))Conjunction
τηρήσητεtērēsētemaintainG5083
√ τηρέω — perhaps akin to G2334 (θεωρέω))VerbAorist Subjunctive Active2nd Person Plural
τηρέω: to guard, to keep watch over The tragedy is in the verb's normal object. Vigilance is not lacking; it has been transferred. Pulpit puts the motive bluntly: the traditions are defended not out of reverence for them but because their defenders are the successors of those who invented them and claim the power to add more.
ὑμῶνhymōnyourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Plural
τὴνtēn[own]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
παράδοσινparadosintraditionG3862
√ παράδοσις — transmission, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
10

For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

gar Mōusēs eipen Tima sou ton patera kai sou tēn mētera kai Ho kakologōn patera ē mētera thanatō teleutatō

Word by word19 · parsed
γὰρgarForG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
ΜωϋσῆςMōusēsMosesG3475
√ Μωσεύς — Moseus, Moses, or Mouses (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
Μωϋσῆς: Moses Named, and named as a speaker, so that the following verse's “but you say” is a confrontation of speakers. Gill reads “Moses said” as God speaking through Moses, which is what makes the Korban rule not merely unkind but a contradiction of God.
εἶπενeipensaidG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ΤίμαTimaHonorG5091
√ τιμάω — to prize, iVerbPresent Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
τιμάω: to prize, to honour The unit's most load-bearing repetition. The verb of verse 6, where honour is reduced to lip-work toward God, is the verb of the commandment here, where honour is owed to parents and is being withdrawn in God's name. Cambridge identifies the source as Exodus 20:12; the Verifier confirms the same lexeme in the Matthean parallel at 15:4 and 15:6.
σουsouyourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
πατέραpaterafatherG3962
√ πατήρ — a "father" (literally or figuratively, near or more remote)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
σουsouyourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
τὴνtēnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
μητέραmēteramotherG3384
√ μήτηρ — a "mother" (literally or figuratively, immediate or remote)NounAccusative Feminine Singular
καίkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὉHoAnyone whoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
κακολογῶνkakologōncursesG2551
√ κακολογέω — to revileVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
κακολογέω: to revile, to speak evil of Cambridge traces the clause to Exodus 21:17. Gill's reading widens it from imprecation to neglect, which is essential to the argument: if mere words against a parent were capital, then a device that leaves a parent unfed cannot be pious. Pulpit draws the a fortiori explicitly, and Henry states it in its sharpest form.
πατέραpatera[his] fatherG3962
√ πατήρ — a "father" (literally or figuratively, near or more remote)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
ἢēorG2228
√ ἤ — disjunctive, orConjunction
μητέραmēteramotherG3384
√ μήτηρ — a "mother" (literally or figuratively, immediate or remote)NounAccusative Feminine Singular
θανάτῳthanatōvvvG2288
√ θάνατος — (properly, an adjective used as a noun) death (literally or figuratively)NounDative Masculine Singular
θάνατος: death A dative of means standing before its cognate verb. The construction is emphatic, and both Geneva and Pulpit read the emphasis as excluding pardon or reprieve.
τελευτάτωteleutatōmust be put to deathG5053
√ τελευτάω — to finish life (by implication, of G979 (βίος)), iVerbPresent Imperative Active3rd Person Singular
τελευτάω: to finish life Present imperative, third person: let the sentence stand. The verb is not the ordinary word for killing but for coming to an end of life, which keeps the statute in the register of verdict rather than violence.
11

But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever you would have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a gift devoted to God),

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de hymeis legete Ean anthrōpos eipē tō patri ē tē mētri Ho ean ōphelēthēs ex emou Korban ho estin Dōron

Word by word20 · parsed
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὑμεῖςhymeisyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 2nd Person Plural
σύ: thou, you The explicit pronoun is the hinge of the whole indictment: Moses said, but you say. Two speakers, two authorities, one commandment between them.
λέγετεlegetesay thatG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
ἘὰνEanifG1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
ἄνθρωποςanthrōposa manG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounNominative Masculine Singular
εἴπῃeipēsaysG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Singular
τῷtōto [his]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
πατρὶpatrifatherG3962
√ πατήρ — a "father" (literally or figuratively, near or more remote)NounDative Masculine Singular
ἢēorG2228
√ ἤ — disjunctive, orConjunction
τῇtēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
μητρίmētrimotherG3384
√ μήτηρ — a "mother" (literally or figuratively, immediate or remote)NounDative Feminine Singular
ὋHoWhateverG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
ἐὰνean. . .G1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
ὠφεληθῇςōphelēthēsyou would have receivedG5623
√ ὠφελέω — to be useful, iVerbAorist Subjunctive Passive2nd Person Singular
ὠφελέω: to be useful, to benefit Aorist subjunctive passive. The grammar puts the parent in the position of the one who would have been helped, so the sentence is built around a benefit prevented rather than a possession retained.
ἐξexfromG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
ἐμοῦemoumeG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Singular
ΚορβᾶνKorban[is] CorbanG2878
√ κορβᾶν — a votive offering and the offeringNounNominative Masculine Singular
κορβᾶν: a votive offering Ellicott traces the word through Leviticus and Numbers, generally rendered “offering,” elsewhere in the Old Testament only at Ezekiel 20:28 and 40:43, and later applied to the temple treasure (compare Matthew 27:6 and Josephus). Cambridge explains the mechanism, that pronouncing the word over a possession dedicated it irrevocably, and records a second and harsher reading of the formula as an imprecation, which he judges gives greater force to Christ's charge. Gill locates the abuse precisely: this is not consecration but a vow that bars one class of persons.
ὅho(thatG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounNominative Neuter Singular
ἐστινestinisG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ΔῶρονDōrona gift devoted [to God] )G1435
√ δῶρον — a presentNounNominative Neuter Singular
δῶρον: a present, a gift Mark's own translation, and the cruellest word in the unit: the thing is called a gift in order that it may reach no one.
12

he is no longer permitted to do anything for his father or mother.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

auton ouketi aphiete poiēsai ouden tō patri ē tē mētri

Word by word10 · parsed
αὐτὸνautonhe [is]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
οὐκέτιouketino longerG3765
√ οὐκέτι — not yet, no longerAdverb
οὐκέτι: no longer A temporal negative, and it marks the vow's effect as a permanent change of status. There is a moment before the word Korban is spoken and a moment after, and the second cannot be reversed by the speaker.
ἀφίετεaphietepermittedG863
√ ἀφίημι — an intensive form of , to go)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
ἀφίημι: to send away, let go, release The unit's quietest and most damning echo. At verse 8 the aorist participle of this verb described what they did to the commandment of God; here the present indicative describes what they will not do for a son. Gill shows where the release actually lay, in the hand of a wise man empowered to dissolve the vow, which he reads as the establishment of a human authority in the place of God's.
ποιῆσαιpoiēsaito doG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbAorist Infinitive Active
οὐδὲνoudenanythingG3762
√ οὐδείς — not even one (man, woman or thing), iAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Singular
οὐδείς: not even one thing Reinforcing negative. The prohibition is total, which is what makes it a repeal rather than a restriction: nothing at all may be done for father or mother.
τῷtōfor hisG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
πατρὶpatrifatherG3962
√ πατήρ — a "father" (literally or figuratively, near or more remote)NounDative Masculine Singular
ἢēorG2228
√ ἤ — disjunctive, orConjunction
τῇtēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
μητρίmētrimotherG3384
√ μήτηρ — a "mother" (literally or figuratively, immediate or remote)NounDative Feminine Singular
13

Thus you nullify the word of God by the tradition you have handed down. And you do so in many such matters.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

akyrountes ton logon tou Theou tē hymōn paradosei hē paredōkate kai poieite toiauta polla paromoia

Word by word15 · parsed
ἀκυροῦντεςakyrountes[Thus] you nullifyG208
√ ἀκυρόω — to invalidateVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἀκυρόω: to invalidate, to cancel A rare legal verb (three verses). Ellicott's parallel at Galatians 3:17 is instructive in reverse: there Paul argues that a later law cannot annul God's earlier covenant, while here a later tradition has been used to do exactly that. The participle is present, so the cancelling is continuous, not a single past act.
τὸνtontheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
λόγονlogonwordG3056
√ λόγος — something said (including the thought)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
λόγος: something said, including the thought The widest term yet. The unit has moved from hands to a rubric, from a rubric to the commandment, from the commandment to God's word itself. That widening is the argument, not decoration.
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ΘεοῦTheouof GodG2316
√ θεός — figuratively, a magistrateNounGenitive Masculine Singular
τῇtēbyG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
ὑμῶνhymōn[the]G4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Plural
παραδόσειparadoseitraditionG3862
√ παράδοσις — transmission, iNounDative Feminine Singular
παράδοσις: that which is handed over Fifth and final occurrence. Standing next to its own cognate verb, it exposes what the word has meant all along: not antiquity, not authority, only transmission, and therefore always answerable to the question of who did the handing.
ᾗhēG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounDative Feminine Singular
παρεδώκατεparedōkateyou have handed downG3860
√ παραδίδωμι — to surrender, iVerbAorist Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
παραδίδωμι: to hand over, to deliver up Aorist, second person plural: you did this. Cambridge sets out the chain they claimed, from God to Moses to the Elders, and Gill quotes the opening of Pirkei Avot where that chain is recited down to Hillel and Shammai. Mark's verb makes the last link in that chain the defendants themselves.
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ποιεῖτεpoieiteyou doG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
τοιαῦταtoiautasoG5108
√ τοιοῦτος — truly this, iDemonstrative PronounAccusative Neuter Plural
πολλὰpollain manyG4183
√ πολύς — (singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) manyAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
παρόμοιαparomoiasuch [matters]G3946
√ παρόμοιος — alike nearly, iAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
παρόμοιος: nearly alike A rare adjective. It closes the unit without closing the list, which is the point: Korban was an example, not the offence.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The deputation, and the hands that are only common — 7:1-5

Mark opens with movement and no speech. The Pharisees and certain scribes, ἐλθόντες ἀπὸ Ἱεροσολύμων, having come from Jerusalem, συνάγονται, are gathered to him: a historic present that films the convergence as it happens. Gill judges these men came from the capital, either of themselves or sent by the sanhedrim; Cambridge reads the joint appearance of Judaean and Galilean Pharisees as a combination already concerted; Pulpit says flatly that they were doubtless sent as spies. Benson supplies the motive from long observation: they came on purpose to find occasion against him. ⚙ What the deputation sees is not filth. The offence word is κοιναῖς, common, and Ellicott insists on the literal sense: common, which only through usage such as Acts 10:14 came to mean unclean. Benson notes the Jewish idiom that opposes common to holy, holy meaning what is separated off for sacred use. Cambridge is blunt that the disciples doubtless washed their hands; what they omitted was the ceremonial form. So the charge is not that these hands are dirty but that they are undifferentiated, ordinary, indistinguishable from anyone's. Mark, who twice stops to translate for readers who would not know the category (ἀνίπτοις here, Korban at verse 11), then reports the whole apparatus: washing πυγμῇ, with the fist, a word so contested that Barnes derives “diligently” from the rubbing motion, Benson reports and doubts Theophylact's “up to the elbow,” and Pulpit leans on the Syriac for “diligently.” Then the market bath, then cups, sextarius measures, copper vessels, dining couches. Ellicott names the engine driving the list: not cleanliness or health but arrogant exclusiveness, since a Gentile's touch in the crowd was reckoned as defiling as a corpse's. Gill documents from later rabbinic sources that a Pharisee touched even in his garments by the common people needed immersion. The question, when it finally comes at verse 5, uses the verb περιπατοῦσιν, walk, and Geneva catches the idiom: among them the way is taken for the manner of life. They are not asking about a meal. They are asking whose path these men are on.

ii. Isaiah's verdict: the lips near, the heart holding off — 7:6-8

Jesus answers a question about hands with a prophecy about hearts, and he begins with Καλῶς. Cambridge says the word is spoken in irony and notes that it returns at verse 9; Pulpit renders it “excellently.” The citation is Isaiah 29:13, as Cambridge states, and Jesus introduces it with γέγραπται, a perfect: it stands written. Against a tradition whose whole claim was oral transmission through the elders (Cambridge on the Unwritten Law, Pulpit on the Sinai claim), he sets what remains in writing. ⚙ The quoted lines set two body parts against each other, χείλεσιν and καρδία, and the decisive verb is ἀπέχει, which the lexicon gives as to have out, to hold off. The heart is not passively distant; it is actively holding itself away while the lips are moving. Gill, reading the fuller Matthean form, calls it lip labour with no lifting of the heart. Pulpit finds the punishment fitted to the crime: men who gave God the words only were left with the words only, the shell and the letter, the kernel withdrawn. Verse 7 supplies the verdict word Μάτην, a rare adverb the Verifier finds in only two New Testament verses, and it measures worship by result rather than by sincerity, for the verb it judges is σέβονταί, which Ellicott shows is not the ordinary word for outward homage but one expressing inward devotion, as at Acts 18:13. That is the sharpest thing in the paragraph: the inwardness is granted and the worship is still empty. Ellicott then distinguishes the two words English flattens into one, ἐντάλματα, many detailed precepts, against ἐντολήν in verse 8, the commandment which is exceeding broad. Verse 8 states the exchange in two verbs: Ἀφέντες, having let go, and κρατεῖτε, you hold fast, the second being the very verb Mark used of them at verse 3. Gill notes the sting in calling the revered elders simply “men” over against God. Geneva presses further than mere failure: these deeds do not only fall short of God's law, they take it away.

iii. Korban: the commandment repealed in the name of devotion — 7:9-13

The irony returns, Καλῶς again, and Benson reads it as an exclamation: finely done, how praiseworthy is your conduct, a strong irony. Ellicott notes the adverb is peculiar to Mark here and carries the ring of a scathing and indignant irony, and that the verb ἀθετεῖτε is more formal than “reject”: it is rescinding, repealing, as at Galatians 3:15 and Hebrews 7:18. Barnes offers the alternatives honestly, reading it either as a question, or as “skilfully, cunningly,” or as irony. ⚙ Then comes the proof. Moses said, and Cambridge identifies the two quotations as Exodus 20:12 and Exodus 21:17. Both are voided by a single word. Gill and Pulpit agree that “honour” in the fifth commandment includes material support, so that a rule releasing a son from supporting his parents strikes the commandment itself; Henry states the a fortiori that governs the passage, that if children who curse their parents deserve to die, much more those who starve them. Cambridge explains the mechanism: a person had only to pronounce Korban over a possession and it was irrevocably dedicated, and he records a second and harsher reading of the formula, as an imprecation, which he judges gives greater force to the charge. Gill is careful that this is not a dedication to the temple's use at all: the man may keep the goods himself, having only sworn that his parents shall not have them. Gill then cites the rabbinic canon that a vow contrary to a command was still binding unless a wise man dissolved it, which he reads as the establishment of a magisterial authority in the place of God's. Ellicott adds the lexical history: Korban is a Hebrew word peculiar to Mark in the Gospels, frequent in Leviticus and Numbers, and applied later to the temple treasure, as at Matthew 27:6. The unit closes with ἀκυροῦντες, which Ellicott calls technical, the cancelling word of Galatians 3:17, and with a pairing English cannot show: παραδόσει and παρεδώκατε, the tradition and the handing down, one word twice. The thing they received (verse 4) they have now handed on, and what it cancels is not a rubric but τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ, the word of God.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ Offered as this tool's own fallible reading, to be tested against the text. Read the unit by its verbs of the hand, since the dispute began there. At verse 3 they hold fast the tradition; at verse 4 they received it to hold fast; at verse 8 they have let go the commandment of God and hold fast the tradition of men; at verse 12 they will not let go a man to his father and mother, using at verse 12 the very verb (ἀφίημι) that verse 8 used of what they dropped. The hands that would not touch a common loaf turn out to be holding the wrong thing and releasing the wrong thing. That is why Isaiah's oracle is the right answer to a question about washing: a hand is only the end of an arm, and what the arm obeys is the καρδία that, on the Greek of verse 6, is not merely distant but holding itself off while the lips draw near. The Korban case is then not a stray abuse but the mechanism's proof. It shows that a system of added fences will not merely sit beside the law; Geneva says it takes the law away, and the grammar agrees, since ἀκυρόω is a legal word for cancelling an instrument. Note also what the passage does not say. It does not condemn tradition as such: παράδοσις is a neutral noun that Paul will use approvingly, and everything turns on the genitive after it, of the elders or of men or of God. And it does not condemn devotion: the worship in verse 7 is inward devotion (Ellicott), and it is still called empty. So the unit refuses the two comfortable exits, that sincerity sanctifies the form and that the form is harmless if the heart is right. A rule that makes it pious to let a parent go hungry has been tested and found to be a rule about God. The safest thing a reader can carry out of this paragraph is a question, not a party: which of the things I hold fast can be named, out loud, as having been handed to me by men, and what has it quietly released?

A fence built high enough around the law becomes a roof over it. (Not a verse: this is the tool's own fallible line.)

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The same dispute in Matthew's hand verbal / quotation: confirmed

Matthew 15:1-20 narrates the same confrontation, and the Verifier's word-level comparison is dense: the tradition noun παράδοσις at Matthew 15:2, 15:3 and 15:6; the honour verb τιμάω at 15:4 and 15:6; the Isaiah citation at 15:8-9 sharing λαός, καρδία, πόρρω, σέβομαι, διδάσκω and the rare μάτην; and the rare ἄνιπτος at 15:20. Ellicott, Barnes and JFB all simply refer the reader to their notes on Matthew 15. ⚙ Mark is the one who translates for outsiders (common, unwashed, Korban, sextarius), and Mark alone carries the πυγμῇ detail and the second ironic Καλῶς of verse 9.

Matthew 15:2 · Matthew 15:6 · Matthew 15:8 · Matthew 15:9 · Matthew 15:20

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes across the parallel, including the rare G3155 μάτην (in 2 vv) and G449 ἄνιπτος (in 2 vv), plus G3862 παράδοσις (in 13 vv), G4576 σέβομαι (in 10 vv), G5091 τιμάω (in 16 vv) and G4206 πόῤῥω (in 4 vv). Greek to Greek, both New Testament, so a genuine verbal link

Korban: the word that appears twice in the New Testament verbal / quotation: confirmed

Κορβᾶν (G2878) occurs in only two verses of the New Testament: here, where it releases a son from his parents, and Matthew 27:6, where the chief priests decide that thirty pieces of silver may not be put into the korbanas because it is the price of blood. Ellicott records the same lexical history, that the word came to be applied specifically to the sacred treasure of the Temple, citing Matthew 27:6 and Josephus. Gill distinguishes the vow formula here from an oath by the treasury. ⚙ The juxtaposition is the Verifier's, not a commentator's: the same treasury vocabulary that would not receive tainted money had been used to withhold bread from the aged.

Matthew 27:6

basis: Verifier: shared G2878 κορβᾶν (in 2 vv), the rarest possible shared lexeme, both occurrences in the New Testament Greek. No quotation is claimed; the link is lexical

Paul against precepts and doctrines of men verbal / quotation: confirmed

Colossians 2:22 pairs the same two rare nouns this unit pairs: ἐντάλματα (G1778, found in only three verses) and διδασκαλίας (G1319), in a passage about handling, tasting and touching. Ellicott's note here, that ἔνταλμα points to many detailed precepts while ἐντολή names the broad commandment, is exactly the distinction Colossians exploits. ⚙ Both texts appear to be reaching for the same Isaianic tag, which would make this a shared quotation rather than an accidental overlap; we record the lexical fact and leave the dependence as a probability.

Colossians 2:22

basis: Verifier: shared G1778 ἔνταλμα (in 3 vv, rare) and G1319 διδασκαλία (in 21 vv). Greek to Greek within the New Testament. The further claim that both quote Isaiah 29:13 is our inference and is not part of the recorded basis

The cancelling word: ἀκυρόω verbal / quotation: confirmed

The participle that closes the unit, ἀκυροῦντες (G208), occurs in only three verses. Ellicott says the Greek is technical, making null and void, cancelling, and points to Galatians 3:17, where Paul argues that the law given four hundred and thirty years later cannot annul a covenant previously confirmed by God. ⚙ The two texts run in opposite directions with one verb: Paul says a later law cannot cancel God's prior word; Mark says a later tradition has been used to do exactly that. The irony is in the shared vocabulary, not in any claim that one text cites the other.

Galatians 3:17

basis: Verifier: shared G208 ἀκυρόω (in 3 vv), a rare legal term, Greek to Greek within the New Testament. No citation of one text by the other is claimed

Washings that could not reach the conscience verbal / quotation: confirmed

βαπτισμούς (G909) is found in only four verses, and Hebrews 6:2 uses the same masculine noun, which Ellicott takes there to mean ablutions generally rather than the sacramental rite. The long annotation printed in our source under the JFB tag at verse 1 makes the same connection independently, naming the divers washings of Hebrews 9:10 among carnal ordinances imposed until the time of reformation. ⚙ Hebrews supplies the category the Pharisees' list lacks: these are outward regulations with an expiry date, and the letter says why they could not perfect the conscience.

Hebrews 6:2 · Hebrews 9:10

basis: Verifier: shared G909 βαπτισμός (in 4 vv, rare) with Hebrews 6:2, Greek to Greek within the New Testament. The Hebrews 9:10 reference is supplied by the commentary printed under the JFB tag at Mark 7:1, not by the Verifier

Paradosis in Paul: the same noun, the opposite verdict structural / thematic: confirmed

The noun Jesus indicts, παράδοσις (G3862), is the noun Paul commends: stand firm and hold the traditions taught by word or letter (2 Thessalonians 2:15), keep away from those not walking according to the tradition received from us (2 Thessalonians 3:6), hold the traditions as delivered (1 Corinthians 11:2). The same noun names what he repudiated of his own past, zeal for the traditions of his fathers (Galatians 1:14), and what he warns against, philosophy according to the tradition of men (Colossians 2:8). ⚙ The word is neutral; the genitive decides. That is a structural observation about usage, and no text here quotes another.

2 Thessalonians 2:15 · 2 Thessalonians 3:6 · 1 Corinthians 11:2 · Galatians 1:14 · Colossians 2:8

basis: Verifier: shared G3862 παράδοσις (in 13 vv) across all five refs, with G2902 κρατέω (in 46 vv) also shared at 2 Thessalonians 2:15 and G3880 παραλαμβάνω (in 49 vv) and G4043 περιπατέω (in 88 vv) at 2 Thessalonians 3:6. Real verbal contact, but the link is a shared motif of transmission, not a quotation, so we tier it structural

Isaiah 29:13 on the lips of Jesus structural / thematic: confirmed

Cambridge states that the quoted words are found in Isaiah 29:13, and Gill cites the same verse and notes that Paul draws on the same chapter (Isaiah 29:10) at Romans 11:8. Pulpit is careful about how the prophecy reaches this audience: Isaiah did not have these men in mind, but the Spirit within him described accurately those who seven centuries later would do the same things as their forefathers. ⚙ The Greek of Mark follows the Old Greek form of the oracle, whose final clause about teaching the precepts of men is what makes the citation land on the tradition of the elders.

Isaiah 29:13 · Romans 11:8

basis: An explicit New Testament quotation of the Old Testament, named by Cambridge and Gill. Because the link crosses from Greek to Hebrew, no shared Strong's numbers can be computed and it cannot be tiered verbal; it is recorded structurally on the commentators' identification

Moses said: the fifth commandment and its sanction structural / thematic: confirmed

Cambridge identifies the two quotations of verse 10 as coming partly from Exodus 20:12 and partly from Exodus 21:17; Gill names the same pair and adds that the command was spoken by God and written on the tables, so that “Moses said” means God said through Moses. The fifth commandment stands also at Deuteronomy 5:16, and the death sanction for reviling a parent also at Leviticus 20:9. Gill and Pulpit both insist that honouring includes maintaining, so that a rule voiding support voids the commandment. ⚙ The Korban device did not deny either text; it made a third rule under which neither could be obeyed.

Exodus 20:12 · Exodus 21:17 · Deuteronomy 5:16 · Leviticus 20:9

basis: Explicit New Testament quotations of the Old Testament, identified by Cambridge (Exodus 20:12 and Exodus 21:17) and Gill. Cross-Testament, Greek to Hebrew, so no shared Strong's lexemes exist and the verbal tier is unavailable; Deuteronomy 5:16 and Leviticus 20:9 are the parallel statutes and are named by us, not by a voice in the brief

Korban before the Gospels: the offering word in the Law structural / thematic: confirmed

Ellicott traces the Hebrew word: it occurs frequently in Leviticus and Numbers, generally translated “offering” and sometimes “oblation,” and elsewhere in the Old Testament only at Ezekiel 20:28 and 40:43. ⚙ The vocabulary of the vow law stands behind the abuse. The device works only because a genuine category existed for goods irrevocably devoted, which is why Cambridge can say a person had merely to pronounce the word for the dedication to bind.

Leviticus 2:1 · Numbers 7:3 · Ezekiel 20:28

basis: Cross-Testament and Greek to Hebrew, so no shared Strong's numbers are computable. The basis is Ellicott's own list of Old Testament occurrences of the word Mark transliterates as Κορβᾶν (G2878)

The binding force of a vow: Numbers 30 and Deuteronomy 23 flagged: verify source

⚙ The Korban abuse presupposes a law under which a vow, once uttered, binds the one who uttered it. Gill reports the rabbinic canon (citing Maimonides on the laws of vows) that a man who vowed against a command was obliged to keep the vow and break the command, and could be released only by a wise man. The obvious biblical ground for that canon is the vow law of Numbers 30:2 and Deuteronomy 23:21-23. We flag this rather than assert it: no commentator in our sources makes the connection to those texts, and the rabbinic rules Gill cites are centuries later than Mark.

Numbers 30:2 · Deuteronomy 23:21

basis: No voice in the brief names these texts, and no shared Strong's lexemes are computable across the Testaments. The connection is our own reconstruction of the legal background from Gill's citation of later rabbinic vow law, and it needs verification

The washings the Law did require structural / thematic: confirmed

Benson grounds the practice in Leviticus 15:11, where one touched by a man with an issue must wash his clothes and bathe, and says the people were accordingly ordered to wash on returning from crowded places lest they had touched an unclean person; Cambridge cites Leviticus 15:12 for the rule that earthen vessels were broken while metal and wood were scoured and rinsed, which is exactly the distinction Gill and Barnes report in the rabbinic sources. ⚙ So the elders' fence was built on a real foundation, which is what makes the passage difficult: Jesus is not attacking an invention with no scriptural root but an extension that grew until, in Benson's words, the law of God was left to lie neglected in comparison with it.

Leviticus 15:11 · Leviticus 15:12

basis: Cross-Testament, Greek to Hebrew, so no shared Strong's numbers are computable. The basis is the explicit citation of Leviticus 15:11 by Benson and Leviticus 15:12 by Cambridge as the statutory root of the washing customs Mark describes

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The Son who honours His Father where the honour word failed ancient/widely-held

One verb, τιμάω (G5091), carries both halves of this unit: at verse 6 the people honour God with their lips while the heart holds off, and at verse 10 the commandment is Honour your father and your mother, which the Korban rule cancels. The Verifier finds the same lexeme joining the Matthean parallel at 15:4 and 15:6. ⚙ The unit therefore charges a double failure of honour, upward and downward, in the same word. The redemptive-historical answer is not an improved rule but a person in whom the honour word holds in both directions: the Son who says he does always the things that please the Father, and who at the cross provides for his mother. Henry states the frame in which the ancient commentators read the whole paragraph, that one great design of Christ's coming was to set aside the ceremonial law and, to make way for that, to reject the ceremonies men had added; Pulpit says Christ came to put an end to the old ceremonial law and to direct all the care of his disciples to making the heart clean. Be clear about what is whose: that frame is the ancient and widely-held reading, attested here by Henry and Pulpit, while the observation that one honour verb joins verse 6 to verse 10 is the Verifier's lexical fact read by us, and its application to the Son's own honouring of His Father is our inference from John, not a claim made by any voice in our sources.

Mark 7:6 · Mark 7:10 · John 8:29 · John 19:26-27

The clean heart that must be given, not washed ancient/widely-held

Isaiah's verdict leaves no remedy inside the system it condemns: the lips are near, the heart ἀπέχει, holds itself off, and the worship, granted by Ellicott to be inward devotion, is still μάτην, empty. ⚙ If the diagnosis is a heart that holds away, then no quantity of βαπτισμοί reaches the disease, since every washing in verses 3 and 4 is in the middle voice, something the worshipper does to himself. Henry puts the answer in the same grammar, that the clean hands and pure heart Christ requires of his disciples are what he first bestows on them, and that they differ in kind from the outward forms of Pharisees of every age. This is the classical reading of the passage and it is why the ceremonial washings are treated in Hebrews as ordinances imposed until a time of reformation.

Mark 7:6 · Hebrews 9:10 · Hebrews 10:22

Korban and the gift that was not withheld novel

⚙ Offered as a figural reading, and marked as ours. The Korban formula worked by declaring a thing Δῶρον, a gift, in order that it should reach no one: Gill is explicit that the man need not give it to the temple at all, only swear that his parents shall not have it. It is devotion used as a wall. The single other New Testament appearance of the word (Matthew 27:6, the only other verse with G2878) is the temple treasury refusing the price of blood. Set beside them the offering the Gospel actually announces, a Son who did not treat what he had as a thing to be withheld but gave himself. The contrast between a gift declared in order to withhold and a gift given in order to reach is, so far as our sources go, no commentator's reading of this verse; it is the tool's own, and it is offered to be tested, not relied on.

Mark 7:11 · Matthew 27:6 · Philippians 2:6-8

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

⚙ Honesty notes for this unit. Text. Three real textual questions sit inside these thirteen verses, and every one of them is named by a voice in our sources rather than by us. At verse 2, Pulpit reports that the verb rendered “they found fault” in the older English does not stand in the best authorities and looks interpolated to ease the construction. At verse 3, πυγμῇ (with the fist) competes with a reading pyknē or pyknōs (“oft”), which Pulpit judges conjectural and Benson attributes to Codex Bezae; our translation's “ceremonially” takes a side without saying so. At verse 4, Pulpit reports that Vaticanus and Sinaiticus read “sprinkle themselves” for “immerse themselves,” and that the words for dining couches lack sufficient authority to be retained; at verse 8, Ellicott notes that many of the better manuscripts omit the closing clause about washing pots and cups, while arguing on internal grounds that it is probably original. Meaning still open. What πυγμῇ physically describes is genuinely unsettled: Barnes (rubbing with the fist, hence diligently), Benson reporting Theophylact (up to the elbow, a sense Benson calls unusual for the word), Cambridge citing Lightfoot (to the jointing of the arm), Pulpit following the Syriac (diligently). We have not resolved it. Cambridge likewise records two constructions of the Korban formula, a simple declaration of dedication and a stronger imprecation, and prefers the second as giving greater force to the charge; we report both. Sources. Gill's abundant rabbinic citations (Mishnah Kelim and Chagigah, the Talmuds, Maimonides, the Zohar) and Cambridge's Akiba anecdote from Buxtorf via Farrar are all later than Mark and are used here as illustration of how the rules functioned, never as proof of first-century practice. The long annotation printed in our source under the [JFB] tag at Mark 7:1 is almost certainly Matthew Poole's, since it argues in his idiom and repeatedly refers the reader to Poole on Matthew 15; we cite the tag we were given and flag the discrepancy in the voice note there, and every [Poole] entry in this unit is a bare cross-reference with no text of its own. Barnes's excursus at verse 4 on the mode of baptism is a nineteenth-century controversy imported into Mark's parenthesis, and we have marked it as his argument. Cross-references. Every Greek to Greek badge rests on the Verifier's computed shared lexemes with their frequencies. The Isaiah, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy and Ezekiel links cross from Greek to Hebrew, so no shared Strong's numbers can be computed for them and none of them is tiered verbal, however explicit the quotation; they rest on the commentators' identifications, and where no commentator names the text (Numbers 30:2 and Deuteronomy 23:21) the thread is flagged for verification.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)