The Fallible Study Bible

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Mark7:14–23

What Defiles a Man

✦ Public-domain source — quoted & attributed⚙ AI synthesis — generated, verify

Mark 7:14–23 — What Defiles a Man. 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.

14

Once again Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, “All of you, listen to Me and understand:

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai palin proskalesamenos ton ochlon elegen autois pantes Akousate mou kai synete

Word by word12 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
πάλινpalinOnce againG3825
√ πάλιν — (adverbially) anew, iAdverb
palin: again, anew Pulpit: the adverb belongs in the best text, so the scene is a recall, not a first summons.
προσκαλεσάμενοςproskalesamenos[Jesus] calledG4341
√ προσκαλέομαι — to call toward oneself, iVerbAorist Participle MiddleNominative Masculine Singular
proskaleomai: to call toward oneself Aorist middle participle. The verb is Mark's word for Jesus gathering people to his own side (it is the same verb used when he calls the Twelve), and the middle voice keeps the action attached to the caller. Gill reads the gesture socially: the common people stood back at a distance out of deference to the doctors, and Jesus calls them in over the heads of the experts.
τὸνtontheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ὄχλονochloncrowd [to Him]G3793
√ ὄχλος — a throng (as borne along)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
ἔλεγενelegen[and] saidG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
legō: to lay forth, say Imperfect, an open and continuing speech act rather than a single completed saying.
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
πάντεςpantesAll of youG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἈκούσατέAkousatelisten toG191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
akouō: to hear Aorist imperative plural, and it governs μου in the genitive: hear of me, that is, hear me as the source. The pairing of an imperative to hear with an imperative to understand is the formula of prophetic address, and Mark has just recorded Jesus quoting Isaiah 29:13 against this same audience's teachers.
μουmouMeG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
σύνετεsyneteunderstandG4920
√ συνίημι — to put together, iVerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
syniēmi: to put together, comprehend Aorist imperative. Understanding here is not receptivity but a commanded act of assembly: take the pieces and set them together. Mark builds his whole pericope on this verb, since the disciples' failure in v. 18 (ἀσύνετοι, un-put-together) is precisely the failure to obey this command.
15

Nothing that enters a man from the outside can defile him; but the things that come out of a man, these are what defile him.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

ouden eisporeuomenon eis tou anthrōpou estin auton exōthen ho dynatai koinōsai auton alla ta ekporeuomena ek tou anthrōpou estin ta koinounta ton anthrōpon

Word by word23 · parsed
οὐδένoudenNothingG3762
√ οὐδείς — not even one (man, woman or thing), iAdjectiveNominative Neuter Singular
oudeis: not even one Absolute negation, fronted. Nothing whatever in the food category is granted defiling power.
εἰσπορευόμενονeisporeuomenonthat entersG1531
√ εἰσπορεύομαι — to enter (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveNominative Neuter Singular
eisporeuomai: to enter Present participle middle or passive: a thing in the act of travelling inward. The verb is shared with Matthew 15:17 and is one of the lexical hinges the Verifier records between the two accounts.
εἰςeis. . .G1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τοῦtouaG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ἀνθρώπουanthrōpoumanG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounGenitive Masculine Singular
ἐστινestinG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτὸνautonG846
√ 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
ἔξωθενexōthenfrom the outsideG1855
√ ἔξωθεν — external(-ly)Preposition
ὃhoG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounNominative Neuter Singular
δύναταιdynataicanG1410
√ δύναμαι — to be able or possibleVerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
κοινῶσαιkoinōsaidefileG2840
√ κοινόω — to make (or consider) profane (ceremonially)VerbAorist Infinitive Active
koinoō: to make or consider profane, common Aorist infinitive. This is the load-bearing word of the unit, used seven times across vv. 15 to 23. It is cultic vocabulary, not moral vocabulary: to make koinos is to render a thing available to anybody, and so unfit to come near the God who is separate. Its formal opposite is καθαρίζω (G2511), which Mark will spring in v. 19, and the same pair of words carries Peter's rooftop vision in Acts 10:15.
αὐτόνautonhimG846
√ 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
ἀλλὰallabutG235
√ ἀλλά — properly, other things, iConjunction
τὰtathe thingsG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Plural
ἐκπορευόμενάekporeuomenathat comeG1607
√ ἐκπορεύομαι — to depart, be discharged, proceed, projectVerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveNominative Neuter Plural
ekporeuomai: to go out, proceed Present participle, plural and neuter: a stream of outgoing things, not a single act. Mark keeps the verb through vv. 20, 21 and 23 so that the catalogue of vice is grammatically the outflow of the heart.
ἐκekout ofG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
τοῦtouaG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ἀνθρώπουanthrōpoumanG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounGenitive Masculine Singular
ἐστινestinthese areG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὰtawhatG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Plural
κοινοῦνταkoinountadefileG2840
√ κοινόω — to make (or consider) profane (ceremonially)VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Neuter Plural
koinoō: to make common Present active participle: these things are, ongoingly, the profaning agents. The switch from the aorist infinitive of the denied clause to a present participle in the affirmed clause quietly contrasts a supposed momentary contamination with a continuous one.
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἄνθρωπονanthrōpon[him]G444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounAccusative Masculine Singular
16

⚙ The critical text omits the original-language words of this verse (a textual variant); the BSB prints it. No word cards are shown — a stated gap, not invented text.

17

After Jesus had left the crowd and gone into the house, His disciples inquired about the parable.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai hote eisēlthen apo tou ochlou eis oikon autou hoi mathētai epērōtōn auton tēn parabolēn

Word by word15 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὅτεhoteAfterG3753
√ ὅτε — at which (thing) too, iAdverb
εἰσῆλθενeisēlthen[Jesus] had leftG1525
√ εἰσέρχομαι — to enter (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἀπὸapo. . .G575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
τοῦtoutheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ὄχλουochloucrowdG3793
√ ὄχλος — a throng (as borne along)NounGenitive Masculine Singular
εἰςeis[and gone] intoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
οἶκονoikon[the] houseG3624
√ οἶκος — a dwelling (more or less extensive, literal or figurative)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
oikos: a dwelling Anarthrous in the best text. The house is Mark's standing setting for private explanation to the Twelve, as at Mark 4:10 after the sower.
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
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
μαθηταὶmathētaidisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
mathētēs: a learner The plural hides a name: Cambridge and Pulpit both note that Matthew 15:15 records Peter as the questioner, and both draw the inference that Mark, writing under Peter's eye, suppresses him.
ἐπηρώτωνepērōtōninquired aboutG1905
√ ἐπερωτάω — to ask for, iVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
eperōtaō: to ask for, interrogate Imperfect of a compound, intensive verb: a pressing, repeated questioning.
αὐτὸνauton. . .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
τὴνtēntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
παραβολήνparabolēnparableG3850
√ παραβολή — a similitude ("parable"), iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
parabolē: a similitude, dark saying The disciples classify a plain declarative sentence as a riddle, which is itself the diagnosis. Poole traces the cause to habit: the prejudice received from their teachers "locked up their souls." Barnes adds a legal reason that is fairer to them, that the Law really did make men ceremonially polluted by contact with dead bodies, so the denial of external defilement sounded like a contradiction of Moses.
18

“Are you still so dull?” He asked. “Do you not understand? Nothing that enters a man from the outside can defile him,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

este hymeis kai Houtōs asynetoi Kai legei autois ou noeite hoti pan to eisporeuomenon eis ton anthrōpon exōthen ou dynatai koinōsai auton

Word by word22 · parsed
ἐστεesteAreG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
ὑμεῖςhymeisyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 2nd Person Plural
καὶkaistillG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ΟὕτωςHoutōssoG3779
√ οὕτω — in this way (referring to what precedes or follows)Adverb
ἀσύνετοίasynetoidullG801
√ ἀσύνετος — unintelligentAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
asynetos: unintelligent, without discernment The word is the exact negation of the v. 14 imperative σύνετε: they were told to put it together and they are now named as those who have not. In the Septuagint the adjective is standard for the fool who cannot read God's works; Paul uses it of the darkened heart at Romans 1:31 in the same vice-list context this unit will meet in v. 22.
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
λέγειlegeiHe askedG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
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
οὐouvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
νοεῖτεnoeiteDo you not understandG3539
√ νοιέω — to exercise the mind (observe), iVerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
noeō: to exercise the mind, perceive Present indicative, a verb of active mental work. Pulpit presses the reproach as fair: these are men who had already heard the Sermon on the Mount teach where purity of heart lies, and who had been constantly with him.
ὅτιhotiG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
πᾶνpanNothingG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveNominative Neuter Singular
τὸtothatG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
εἰσπορευόμενονeisporeuomenonentersG1531
√ εἰσπορεύομαι — to enter (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveNominative Neuter Singular
eisporeuomai: to enter Repeated verbatim from v. 15; the private explanation begins by restating the public saying without softening a word of it.
εἰςeis. . .G1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὸνtonaG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἄνθρωπονanthrōponmanG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounAccusative Masculine Singular
ἔξωθενexōthenfrom the outsideG1855
√ ἔξωθεν — external(-ly)Adverb
οὐouvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
δύναταιdynataicanG1410
√ δύναμαι — to be able or possibleVerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
κοινῶσαιkoinōsaidefileG2840
√ κοινόω — to make (or consider) profane (ceremonially)VerbAorist Infinitive Active
koinoō: to make common Aorist infinitive under the negated δύναται: the point is not that food rarely defiles but that it is unable to.
αὐτὸνautonhimG846
√ 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
19

because it does not enter his heart, but it goes into the stomach and then is eliminated.” (Thus all foods are clean.)

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

hoti ouk eisporeuetai eis autou tēn kardian all’ eis tēn koilian kai ekporeuetai eis ton aphedrōna panta ta brōmata katharizōn

Word by word20 · parsed
ὅτιhotibecauseG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
οὐκoukvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
εἰσπορεύεταιeisporeuetaiit does not enterG1531
√ εἰσπορεύομαι — to enter (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
εἰςeis. . .G1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
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
τὴνtēnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
καρδίανkardianheartG2588
√ καρδία — the heart, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
kardia: the heart Accusative of goal, under a negation: food does not arrive there. In Hebrew idiom, which Ellicott invokes, the heart is intellect, will and affection together, so the denial is not that food leaves the appetites untouched but that it never reaches the deciding self. Gill states the premise the argument rests on: the heart "is the seat and fountain of all moral pollution; and if that is not defiled, no other part can be."
ἀλλ’all’butG235
√ ἀλλά — properly, other things, iConjunction
εἰςeis[it goes] intoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὴνtēntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
κοιλίανkoilianstomachG2836
√ κοιλία — a cavity, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
koilia: a cavity, belly The counterpart organ to the heart. Mark's physiology is not clinical but topographical: there are two interiors in a man, and only one of them is morally live.
καὶkaiand thenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐκπορεύεταιekporeuetaiis eliminatedG1607
√ ἐκπορεύομαι — to depart, be discharged, proceed, projectVerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
εἰςeis. . .G1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὸνton. . .G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἀφεδρῶναaphedrōna. . .G856
√ ἀφεδρών — a place of sitting apart, iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
aphedrōn: a place of sitting apart, latrine A rare and coarse word, euphemistic in form (a place of sitting apart) and blunt in reference. Cambridge glosses it latrina, cloaca, and reaches for 2 Kings 10:27, where the house of Baal is made a draughthouse, the one place in the Hebrew canon where a latrine carries theological weight. The itinerary of the food is traced all the way to this end point for a reason: the heart is shown to lie nowhere on the route.
πάνταpanta([Thus] allG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
τὰtaG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Plural
βρώματαbrōmatafoodsG1033
√ βρῶμα — food (literally or figuratively), especially (ceremonially) articles allowed or forbidden by the Jewish lawNounAccusative Neuter Plural
καθαρίζωνkatharizōnare cleanG2511
√ καθαρίζω — to cleanse (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
katharizō: to cleanse Masculine nominative present participle, the formal opposite of κοινόω. Read as Pulpit, Ellicott and Chrysostom before them read it, the subject is Jesus himself: in saying this, he cleanses all foods. It is the earliest recorded abrogation of the food law in the Gospels, and Mark records it as an aside rather than a decree. Ellicott is honest enough to add that the clause may itself have begun as a marginal note, like the addition at v. 16, though he prefers it as text.
20

He continued: “What comes out of a man, that is what defiles him.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Elegen hoti To ekporeuomenon ek tou anthrōpou ekeino koinoi ton anthrōpon

Word by word12 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἜλεγενElegenHe continuedG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
legō: to say Imperfect, resuming. Mark marks the private exposition as a continuation of the public word, not a correction of it.
ὅτιhotiG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ΤὸToWhatG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
ἐκπορευόμενονekporeuomenoncomesG1607
√ ἐκπορεύομαι — to depart, be discharged, proceed, projectVerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveNominative Neuter Singular
ekporeuomai: to go out, proceed Present participle, singular: the outgoing considered as one movement before it is itemised.
ἐκekout ofG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
τοῦtouaG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ἀνθρώπουanthrōpoumanG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounGenitive Masculine Singular
ἐκεῖνοekeinothat [is what]G1565
√ ἐκεῖνος — that one (or (neuter) thing)Demonstrative PronounNominative Neuter Singular
ekeinos: that one Emphatic and exclusive; the demonstrative does the work that English italics would do.
κοινοῖkoinoidefilesG2840
√ κοινόω — to make (or consider) profane (ceremonially)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
koinoō: to make common Present indicative. The seventh and central use of this verb in the unit: the profaning power that was denied to food is now assigned, flatly, to what comes out of a man.
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἄνθρωπονanthrōpon[him]G444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounAccusative Masculine Singular
21

For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

gar ek esōthen tēs kardias tōn anthrōpōn ekporeuontai hoi kakoi hoi dialogismoi porneiai klopai phonoi moicheiai

Word by word16 · parsed
γὰρgarForG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
ἐκekfromG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
ἔσωθενesōthenwithinG2081
√ ἔσωθεν — from insideAdverb
esōthen: from inside The rare adverb that closes the hinge opened by ἔξωθεν. The same pair carries the woes over the cup and the whitewashed tombs at Matthew 23:25 to 28 and Luke 11:39 to 40.
τῆςtēstheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
καρδίαςkardiasheartsG2588
√ καρδία — the heart, iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
kardia: the heart Genitive of source, and singular. What food could not reach in v. 19 is now named as the spring of everything that follows. Gill's exposition here is at its strongest: the inward part is "not only wicked, but wickedness itself," and he grounds the diagnosis in Psalm 5:9 and in Job 14:4.
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
ἐκπορεύονταιekporeuontaicomeG1607
√ ἐκπορεύομαι — to depart, be discharged, proceed, projectVerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Plural
ekporeuomai: to go out, proceed Present indicative plural: a continuous procession, not an occasional lapse. The verb has now been used of food leaving the body (v. 19) and of vice leaving the heart, which is the grim joke the sentence is built on.
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
κακοὶkakoievilG2556
√ κακός — worthless (intrinsically, suchAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
διαλογισμοὶdialogismoithoughtsG1261
√ διαλογισμός — discussion, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
dialogismos: discussion, reasoning The head term of the catalogue, and the only one qualified by an adjective (κακοί, worthless, evil). Deliberation, not desire, is placed at the source, which is why Poole says the outward acts "are but the imperate actions of the will."
πορνεῖαιporneiaisexual immoralityG4202
√ πορνεία — harlotry (including adultery and incest)NounNominative Feminine Plural
κλοπαίklopaitheftG2829
√ κλοπή — stealingNounNominative Feminine Plural
klopē: stealing A genuinely rare noun: it occurs in only two verses in the New Testament, here and in the Matthean parallel. That rarity is the strongest single piece of lexical evidence tying this catalogue to Matthew 15:19.
φόνοιphonoimurderG5408
√ φόνος — murderNounNominative Masculine Plural
μοιχεῖαιmoicheiaiadulteryG3430
√ μοιχεία — adulteryNounNominative Feminine Plural
22

greed, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

pleonexiai ponēriai dolos aselgeia ophthalmos ponēros blasphēmia hyperēphania aphrosynē

Word by word9 · parsed
πλεονεξίαιpleonexiaigreedG4124
√ πλεονεξία — avarice, iNounNominative Feminine Plural
pleonexia: avarice, the desire to have more First in the singular-list transition and still plural here. Cambridge's Lightfoot-derived gloss is worth keeping: impurity and covetousness "may be said to divide between them nearly the whole domain of human selfishness and vice."
πονηρίαιponēriaiwickednessG4189
√ πονηρία — depravity, iNounNominative Feminine Plural
ponēria: depravity, active malice A rare plural (the noun stands in the plural in only two New Testament places, here and Acts 3:26 by Cambridge's count). Cambridge defines it as the active working of evil, the appetite to do harm, which distinguishes it from mere badness.
δόλοςdolosdeceitG1388
√ δόλος — compare G1185 (δελεάζω))NounNominative Masculine Singular
dolos: guile, bait Singular. Strong's connects the root to the verb for baiting a trap. With φόνος and πονηρία it forms the cluster the Verifier finds shared with Paul's catalogue at Romans 1:29.
ἀσέλγειαaselgeiadebaucheryG766
√ ἀσέλγεια — licentiousness (sometimes including other vices)NounNominative Feminine Singular
ὀφθαλμὸςophthalmosenvyG3788
√ ὀφθαλμός — the eye (literally or figuratively)NounNominative Masculine Singular
ophthalmos ponēros: an evil eye A Semitic idiom carried into Greek untranslated, which is why the English versions must gloss rather than render it. It is the only item in the list that names a body part, and it names it as an instrument of the heart, which is exactly the argument of the pericope: the eye does not receive defilement from outside, it projects it from inside.
πονηρόςponēros. . .G4190
√ πονηρός — hurtful, iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
βλασφημίαblasphēmiaslanderG988
√ βλασφημία — vilification (especially against God)NounNominative Feminine Singular
ὑπερηφανίαhyperēphaniaarroganceG5243
√ ὑπερηφανία — haughtinessNounNominative Feminine Singular
ἀφροσύνηaphrosynē[and] foolishnessG877
√ ἀφροσύνη — senselessness, iNounNominative Feminine Singular
aphrosynē: senselessness Last by design, and the item Mark adds to Matthew's list. Pulpit reads the placement as diagnosis, showing "how all evil terminates in the loss of all moral and intellectual illumination"; Cambridge records Bengel's separate note to the same effect, that folly is set last because it makes all the rest less curable. The word is also the exact negation of the mental competence Jesus commanded in v. 14 and missed in v. 18.
23

All these evils come from within, and these are what defile a man.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

panta tauta ta ponēra ekporeuetai esōthen kai koinoi ton anthrōpon

Word by word10 · parsed
πάνταpantaAllG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveNominative Neuter Plural
ταῦταtautatheseG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Neuter Plural
τὰtaG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Plural
πονηρὰponēraevilsG4190
√ πονηρός — hurtful, iAdjectiveNominative Neuter Plural
ponēros: hurtful, evil Neuter plural substantive: "the evil things." The adjective was attached to the eye in v. 22 and to the reasonings in v. 21; here it gathers everything named.
ἐκπορεύεταιekporeuetaicomeG1607
√ ἐκπορεύομαι — to depart, be discharged, proceed, projectVerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
ekporeuomai: to go out, proceed Singular verb with neuter plural subject, standard Greek concord, and rhetorically a compression: many vices, one outflow, one source.
ἔσωθενesōthenfrom withinG2081
√ ἔσωθεν — from insideAdverb
esōthen: from inside The closing member of the frame, and the last of four occurrences of the rare adverb pair in nine verses. Set here, after the thirteen items, it carries the verdict of the whole pericope: the question was never what crosses a man's lips but what already lives behind them. Pulpit's moral is exactly this, that the heart is the instrument and labouratory of all evil and all good, and so must be guarded rather than rinsed.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
κοινοῖkoinoi[these are what] defileG2840
√ κοινόω — to make (or consider) profane (ceremonially)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
koinoō: to make common The final occurrence, present indicative. Gill draws out the social edge the word carries: to be made koinos is to be classed with the common people whom the Pharisees called, simply, sinners. The verse ends by putting everyone in that class, which is the point at which the pericope stops being about food.
τὸνtonaG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἄνθρωπονanthrōponmanG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounAccusative Masculine Singular

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. Hear me, and put it together — Mark 7:14

⚙ Mark stages the saying before he reports it. Pulpit reads the restored πάλιν as evidence that Jesus had waved the crowd back while the scribes from Jerusalem pressed their complaint, and now calls them in again, "that all might hear that which concerned all alike." Gill hears the same gesture socially: the people "stood at some distance, because of these venerable doctors," and are called nearer. Poole reads the double imperative as a marker of weight, a sign that what follows "was a point of great moment." The Greek supports all three without needing them: προσκαλεσάμενος is middle, a calling to himself; Ἀκούσατέ μου puts the speaker in the genitive as the source to be heard; and σύνετε, aorist imperative of syniēmi, commands not a mood but an operation, a putting together. Everything in the pericope after this is measured against that command, since the disciples will be called ἀσύνετοι, un-put-together, in v. 18. Benson takes the address as a rebuke of the scribes by proxy, hypocrites "anxious about trifles"; that is Benson's expansion, not Mark's wording, and is marked as such at the voice.

ii. Nothing from outside can make a man common — Mark 7:15, Mark 7:16, Mark 7:17, Mark 7:18

⚙ The saying itself is a matched pair of participles on one stem: εἰσπορευόμενον going in, ἐκπορευόμενά coming out, with the verdict κοινῶσαι denied to the first and granted to the second. The verb is cultic. Gill states its force better than any modern gloss: the words "may be rendered, there is nothing from without a man, can make him common; that is, as a plebeian, a vulgar common man." To be defiled, in this vocabulary, is to be declassified out of the holy. Poole guards the statement carefully, limiting it to defilement "in the sight of God (for of such defilement he alone speaketh)," and Benson goes further, insisting that our Lord "did not at all mean to overthrow the distinction which the law had established between things clean and unclean." Pulpit agrees that no disparagement of the Levitical law is intended and reads the object as clearing that teaching of scribal obscurity. Whether those guards survive Mark's own aside in v. 19 is the question the next movement has to face. Verse 16 is not in the BSB text at all: Ellicott says the whole verse "is omitted in many of the best MSS.," and Pulpit notes the Revisers of 1881 put it in the margin. In the house, the disciples call the saying a παραβολή. Barnes is fair to them, noting that the Law really did teach ceremonial pollution by contact, so the denial sounded like a contradiction of Moses; Poole is harder, blaming habit, "custom is a great tyrant." Cambridge and Pulpit both note from Matthew 15:15 that the questioner was Peter, and both infer that Mark, writing under Peter's eye, has suppressed the name.

iii. The masculine participle, and the fall of the food law — Mark 7:19

⚙ One letter carries the weight of the verse. καθαρίζων is masculine nominative singular and therefore cannot agree with the neuter subject of "goes out." Pulpit calls the masculine "undoubtedly" the most approved reading and concludes that "the only possible rendering" makes the clause the evangelist's own comment, supplying "This he said, making all meats clean"; he then records that Chrysostom had read it so already. Ellicott reaches the same construction by grammar and sense, taking cleansing with the subject of He saith in v. 18, and calls the alternative, in which the latrine cleanses the food, hard to defend. Gill, working from the neuter reading, gives exactly that alternative: "that which it leaves behind, is pure and nourishing," and Geneva's marginal gloss (h) says the same. Barnes explains the digestion at length in the science of 1834. So the commentators do not agree, and the honest report is that the manuscripts differ and the reading decides the theology. If the masculine stands, Mark has written the most consequential parenthesis in the Gospels: the one who spoke this sentence, by speaking it, cleansed all food. Ellicott, having argued for it, still adds that the clause may itself have begun as a marginal note like the one at v. 16. That hesitation is his and is recorded here rather than smoothed away.

iv. Thirteen things out of one heart — Mark 7:20, Mark 7:21, Mark 7:22, Mark 7:23

⚙ The catalogue is not a miscellany. Cambridge counts "thirteen forms of evil" and marks the structure: the first seven plural, "predominant actions," the latter six singular, "dispositions." It is headed by διαλογισμοὶ, reasonings, the inner debate, which is why Poole can say the outward acts of tongue, eye and hand "are but the imperate actions of the will." It ends with ἀφροσύνη, a word Ellicott notes is rare and which he defines by Proverbs as "the folly which consists in the absence of the fear of God"; Benson reads it instead as ungovernable passion opposed to sobriety. Pulpit hears the final position as diagnosis, all evil terminating "in the loss of all moral and intellectual illumination," and Cambridge cites Bengel to the same effect. Two items are wholly Semitic and survive into Greek untranslated: ὀφθαλμὸς πονηρός, the evil eye, which Ellicott (from Matthew 20:15) reads as envy looking askance at another's good and Cambridge classes as concealed enmity beside open blasphemy. Benson records an observation worth weighing: three of the sins listed here, murder, false witness and blasphemy, were being committed on that very occasion by the men who had charged the disciples with eating unwashed. He attributes the point to Macknight. Henry's image stands over the whole movement, the corrupt fountain sending forth corrupt streams, and he alone names the remedy, seeking "the grace of the Holy Spirit, to keep down the evil thoughts and affections that work within."

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

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested by Scripture and by better readers. The pericope is usually filed as a ruling about food, but the grammar files it as a ruling about location. Mark builds a frame out of two rare adverbs, ἔξωθεν (twelve verses) and ἔσωθεν (twelve verses), and hangs one verb between them, κοινόω, seven times in nine verses: denied to what comes in, assigned to what goes out. The traffic through the body is traced to its end, as far as the ἀφεδρών, precisely to show that it never once passes the heart. What is at stake is therefore not diet but jurisdiction: where does the line between holy and common actually run, and who is competent to say. The scribes ran it at the hands. Jesus runs it at the heart, and then, if the masculine participle of v. 19 is genuine (Pulpit, Ellicott and Chrysostom say it is; Gill and Geneva read the neuter), Mark records that he moved the line himself. That is a claim to legislate where Moses legislated. Our reading, held loosely, is that Benson and Pulpit are right that no Levitical distinction is being called foolish, and still not sufficient: the distinction is not mocked, it is fulfilled and therefore closed, exactly as Peter would be told on the roof, what God has cleansed, do not call common. There is also a hard mercy in the second half. The word for defile means to make common, and the common people were what the Pharisees meant when they said sinners. By the end of v. 23 everyone is in that class, since the source named is the heart of men, singular, one organ predicated of the race. No washing reaches it. Gill is right that the fountain must be dealt with rather than the streams, and Henry is right that the only remedy named anywhere in Scripture for a fountain is a new one. The line below is the tool's own summary sentence, not Scripture and not a quotation from any commentator.

The stomach can be emptied; the heart has to be replaced.

⚙

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.

Matthew's account of the same discourse verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ Matthew 15:1 to 20 reports this discourse, and JFB treats the two as one passage, referring the whole of Mark 7:1 to 23 to the notes on Matthew. The Verifier's bases are lexical and strong: the catalogue shares κλοπή (G2829), a noun found in only two verses in the whole New Testament, here and at Matthew 15:19, together with διαλογισμός (G1261, fourteen verses) and καρδία (G2588); the saying shares κοινόω (G2840, eleven verses) and εἰσπορεύομαι (G1531, eighteen verses) with Matthew 15:11, 17 and 18, and νοέω (G3539, fourteen verses) with Matthew 15:17. Cambridge notes that the preferable order of the vices differs, and Gill that Mark omits false witness and adds six items Matthew lacks. This is a Greek to Greek link inside one Testament and is tiered on the shared rare lexeme, not on a citation claim: neither evangelist quotes the other.

Matthew 15:11 · Matthew 15:17 · Matthew 15:18 · Matthew 15:19 · Matthew 15:20

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G2829 κλοπή (in 2 vv, its only other occurrence), G1261 διαλογισμός (in 14 vv), G2840 κοινόω (in 11 vv), G1531 εἰσπορεύομαι (in 18 vv), G3539 νοέω (in 14 vv), G2588 καρδία (in 149 vv). Rare shared lexeme justifies a verbal tier; no quotation of one Gospel by the other is claimed.

What God has cleansed: Peter on the roof verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ The two words Mark sets against each other in vv. 15 to 19, κοινόω (make common) and καθαρίζω (cleanse), are the same two words that carry the voice in Peter's vision at Acts 10:15 and its retelling at Acts 11:9. Pulpit says the v. 19 explanation "agrees finely" with Acts 10:15, and Ellicott says the words "anticipate, in almost the same terms," that verse. The link is therefore both lexical and, in the commentators' judgment, deliberate on Luke's part. It is worth noting against over-reading it that Acts 21:28 uses κοινόω in the opposite direction, of Paul accused of profaning the temple, so the word itself settles nothing; the pairing with καθαρίζω is what ties these texts.

Acts 10:15 · Acts 11:9 · Acts 21:28

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G2840 κοινόω (in 11 vv) at both ends and G2511 καθαρίζω (in 30 vv); Acts 21:28 shares G2840 alone. A rare-lexeme verbal link within the Greek New Testament, not a citation: Acts does not quote Mark.

Outside the cup, inside the tomb structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ The hinge of this unit is a pair of rare adverbs, ἔξωθεν (G1855, twelve verses) and ἔσωθεν (G2081, twelve verses). The same pair, with καθαρίζω, carries the woe on the cup cleansed outside and the tombs whitewashed outside at Matthew 23:25 to 28 and Luke 11:39 to 40. The link is a shared vocabulary serving one recurring argument of Jesus against the Pharisees, that purity is being measured at the wrong surface. It is tiered structural rather than verbal because the adverbs are ordinary directional words and no saying is being quoted; the motif, not the wording, is what carries.

Matthew 23:25 · Matthew 23:27 · Matthew 23:28 · Luke 11:39 · Luke 11:40

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G1855 ἔξωθεν (in 12 vv), G2081 ἔσωθεν (in 12 vv), G2511 καθαρίζω (in 30 vv), G3779 οὕτω (in 203 vv). Real verbal overlap inside a shared inside/outside motif; downgraded from verbal because the shared words are common directional adverbs and no quotation is involved.

Paul's catalogue of the unfit mind structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ Three of Mark's vices cluster again in Romans 1:29: φόνος (G5408, nine verses), πονηρία (G4189, seven verses) and δόλος (G1388, eleven verses), all rare, all in one verse of Paul, in a passage whose conclusion is that God gave men over to an ἀδόκιμος mind and which lists ἀσύνετος (Romans 1:31) among the results, the very word Jesus uses of the disciples in Mark 7:18. Benson notes independently that the sins Mark lists are those of the second table of the law "as they are reckoned up by St. Paul, Romans 13:9." The shared lexemes are real and rare; what is not claimed is that Paul is citing Mark.

Romans 1:29

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G5408 φόνος (in 9 vv), G4189 πονηρία (in 7 vv), G1388 δόλος (in 11 vv), three rare lexemes in a single verse of Paul. Deliberately downgraded from verbal: vice catalogues in this period draw on a common stock of Hellenistic Jewish vocabulary, so the overlap is better explained by shared genre than by literary dependence in either direction.

The clean and unclean of Leviticus, closed from the inside typological

⚙ The BSB text of this unit quotes no Old Testament verse. It does not need to: the entire dispute presupposes the food law of Leviticus 11 and its restatement in Deuteronomy 14, and Mark's aside in v. 19 declares that law's distinction fulfilled and therefore closed. Benson and Pulpit both resist putting it so strongly, Benson holding that the Mosaic distinction "still continued in force" for a Jew and Pulpit that our Lord did not intend to disparage the Levitical law but to clear it of scribal accretion. Their caution is recorded because it is a real reading, not a timid one. This is a cross-Testament link between a Greek text and a Hebrew one, so no shared Strong's number is possible and no verbal tier could be honest; it is tiered typological because the relation claimed is fulfilment of a figure, and the figure (separation enacted at the table) is read as answered by separation enacted at the heart.

Leviticus 11:1 · Leviticus 11:47 · Deuteronomy 14:3

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew): shared Strong's numbers are impossible, so no verbal tier is available. Basis is the pericope's explicit subject matter (clean and unclean food) plus Mark's own editorial clause at 7:19; the fulfilment reading is ancient and widely held, and Benson and Pulpit's dissent from its strong form is recorded in the body.

Every intention of the thoughts of his heart structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ Mark 7:21 puts διαλογισμοὶ κακοί, evil reasonings, at the head of the list and the heart at its source. That diagnosis is Hebrew before it is Greek: Genesis 6:5 and 8:21 on every intention of the thoughts of the heart, Jeremiah 17:9 on the heart as deceitful above all things, Proverbs 4:23 on keeping the heart because out of it are the issues of life, and Proverbs 6:16 to 19 with its own catalogue of what the Lord hates, which likewise names a proud look, a lying tongue and hands that shed innocent blood. Pulpit closes its comment on v. 20 by quoting Proverbs 4:23 directly, so at least one of these connections is made by a named commentator and not only by this tool. Gill grounds the same diagnosis in Psalm 5:9, Job 14:4 and Psalm 51:5. Cross-Testament, so structural and not verbal.

Genesis 6:5 · Genesis 8:21 · Jeremiah 17:9 · Proverbs 4:23 · Proverbs 6:18 · Psalm 51:10

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew): no shared Strong's lexeme is possible, so a verbal tier is excluded. Basis is a shared motif of the heart as the source of evil, evidenced inside the sources themselves: Pulpit cites Proverbs 4:23 at Mark 7:20, Gill cites Psalm 5:9 and Job 14:4 at Mark 7:21 and Psalm 51:5 at Mark 7:23.

Outward flesh, inward conscience structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ Hebrews 9:13 uses κοινόω in its perfect passive participle of those who have been defiled, and grants that the ashes of a heifer sanctify "to the purifying of the flesh," before arguing that the blood of Christ goes where that sprinkling could not, to the conscience. The lexical overlap with Mark is real (the same rare verb) but the arguments are different: Mark denies the defiling power of food, Hebrews concedes the cleansing power of the rite and then measures its reach. Tiered structural rather than verbal for that reason, even though the shared lexeme is rare enough to permit the higher tier.

Hebrews 9:13

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G2840 κοινόω (in 11 vv). Deliberately downgraded from verbal: the shared word serves two different arguments (defilement denied to food in Mark; the limited reach of ritual purification in Hebrews), so the honest claim is a structural link, not a quotation or an echo.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The one who, in saying it, cleansed ancient/widely-held

⚙ If καθαρίζων in v. 19 is masculine, as the better manuscripts have it, then its subject is the speaker of v. 18, and Mark's aside says that Jesus, by pronouncing this sentence, made all foods clean. Pulpit states the construction and reports that Chrysostom had already read it so, giving the Greek: "But Mark affirms that he said these things, making the meats clean." Ellicott reaches the same result on grammatical grounds and calls it the better sense. That is a christological claim of the first order, made in a subordinate clause: a man speaks, and a category of the Torah changes. The Acts material shows the early church working out the same thing under the same two words, κοινόω and καθαρίζω, and Hebrews 9:13 to 14 states the principle at large, that the blood of Christ reaches the conscience where the ashes of a heifer reached only the flesh. The reading is old and widely held; the honest qualification is that Gill and the Geneva gloss take the neuter reading, under which the verse says nothing christological at all.

Mark 7:19 · Acts 10:15 · Acts 11:9 · Hebrews 9:13

The physician who names the fountain ancient/widely-held

⚙ The catalogue of vv. 21 and 22 is not moral scolding; it is diagnosis, and it ends in a verdict that no external remedy can reach the site of the disease. Henry puts the pastoral consequence exactly: a spiritual understanding of the law and a sense of the evil of sin "will cause a man to seek for the grace of the Holy Spirit, to keep down the evil thoughts and affections that work within." Gill drives to the same place through Job 14:4, who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean, and answers that no one has, "but the man Christ Jesus." Scripture's own remedy for a defiled heart is never a washing but a replacement: a clean heart created in Psalm 51:10, a heart of flesh for a heart of stone in Ezekiel 36:26, the law written on the heart in Jeremiah 31:33, hearts sprinkled clean in Hebrews 10:22. Mark 7 supplies the diagnosis those texts answer, and does not itself state the cure, which is why this reading is offered as a canonical inference and not as an exegesis of the pericope.

Psalm 51:10 · Ezekiel 36:26 · Jeremiah 31:33 · Hebrews 10:22

Authority over the table where Moses ruled novel

⚙ Mark has already shown Jesus claiming authority to forgive (2:10) and lordship over the Sabbath (2:28). Here the claim extends to the clean and the unclean. The commentators in this brief will not put it that way: Benson holds that the Mosaic distinction "still continued in force" and that our Lord only denied that food in itself can defile the mind; Pulpit says his object was to clear the Levitical teaching of scribal obscurity, not to disparage it. Their restraint is honest and is part of the record. What this tool adds, fallibly, is that the restraint is difficult to hold together with Mark's own editorial clause: a clause which says that all foods were made clean is not a clarification of Leviticus 11 but a verdict upon it, and the verdict is issued by the speaker, not by a council. The reading that Jesus here speaks as the Law's own Lord is widely held in the later tradition; the reading that he speaks only against scribal accretion is the one held by the named voices in this unit, and both are left standing.

Mark 2:28 · Mark 7:19 · Matthew 15:20

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)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

⚙ Honesty notes for this unit. (1) Mark 7:16 has no BSB text: the verse ("If any man have ears to hear, let him hear") is absent from the best manuscripts. Ellicott says it "may have been originally a marginal note written by some early transcriber"; Pulpit reports the Revisers of 1881 placed it in the margin. It is retained here as a verse entry carrying only those two textual voices. (2) Mark 7:19 turns on a variant. The commentators in this brief divide: Pulpit and Ellicott take the masculine καθαρίζων and make the clause Mark's comment that Jesus cleansed all foods; Gill and the Geneva margin take the neuter and make the latrine the thing that purges. Both readings are printed in the voices for that verse, and the synthesis does not pretend the question is closed. Ellicott further conjectures that the clause may itself have entered from a margin, and that conjecture is recorded rather than suppressed. (3) The interlinear in this brief assigns ἔξωθεν (G1855) as a preposition at 7:15 and as an adverb at 7:18 on the identical form; that inconsistency is the source's and is left as received. (4) Barnes' note at 7:19 argues from the digestive physiology of 1834 (chyme, chyle, the thoracic duct); it is quoted because the exegetical point stands independently of the science, and the dating is flagged at the voice. (5) The claim that Mark wrote under Peter's supervision, which Cambridge and Pulpit use to explain the suppression of Peter's name at 7:17, is early church tradition, not a statement of the text. (6) Every thread pairing this Gospel text with an Old Testament passage (Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Genesis, Jeremiah, Proverbs, Psalms) is tiered structural or typological, never verbal, because a Greek text and a Hebrew text cannot share a Strong's number and this unit contains no formal Old Testament quotation. (7) The vice-list threads rest on shared rare lexemes computed by the Verifier; what is claimed is lexical overlap, not literary dependence in either direction. (8) The sola reading and the pullquote are this tool's own fallible synthesis, marked ⚙, and carry no authority beyond the reader's testing of them against Scripture.

✦ = 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)