The Fallible Study Bible

The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible

Matthew15:10–20

What Defiles a Man

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

Matthew 15:10–20 — 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.

10

Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, “Listen and understand.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai proskalesamenos ton ochlon eipen autois Akouete kai syniete

Word by word9 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
προσκαλεσάμενοςproskalesamenos[Jesus] calledG4341
√ προσκαλέομαι — to call toward oneself, iVerbAorist Participle MiddleNominative Masculine Singular
προσκαλέομαι: to call toward oneself Aorist middle participle. The middle voice is the point: Jesus calls the crowd to Himself, over the heads of the teachers. Gill notes the crowd had withdrawn and stood at a distance out of veneration for the Pharisees, so the summons crosses a social gap as well as a physical one. Ellicott hears a deliberate change of venue, from the disputes of the schools to the conscience of the common people.
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
ὄχλος: a throng, as borne along The crowd, not the disciples and not the scribes. Cambridge marks the significance: the appeal to the multitude as worthier than the Pharisees to receive divine truth is the popular character of the Kingdom showing itself.
εἶπενeipen[and] saidG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist 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
ἈκούετεAkoueteListenG191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbPresent Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
ἀκούω: to hear Present imperative, second person plural. The verb returns two verses later in the aorist participle ἀκούσαντες (v. 12), where it is the Pharisees who hear and are snared. The same hearing that is commanded here produces offence there, which is Henry's point that we should not be troubled when a plain declaration of truth gives offence.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
συνίετεsynieteunderstandG4920
√ συνίημι — to put together, iVerbPresent Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
συνίημι: to put together, understand Present imperative. Benson draws the inference that matters: since the whole multitude is commanded to understand, our Lord judged the whole multitude capable of understanding the very thing the Pharisees did not. Gill adds the mechanism, that bare hearing with the outward ear is of no service unless what is heard is understood, and that the way to understand is to hear.
11

A man is not defiled by what enters his mouth, but by what comes out of it.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

ton anthrōpon koinoi ou to eiserchomenon eis to stoma alla touto koinoi ton anthrōpon to ekporeuomenon ek tou stomatos

Word by word19 · parsed
τὸνtonAG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἄνθρωπονanthrōponmanG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounAccusative Masculine Singular
ἄνθρωπος: a man, a human being Not ἀνήρ (a male) but the generic term, and it is the word Jesus repeats at vv. 18 and 20. The whole unit is about what does and does not reach the human being as such, which is why Pulpit calls this a great moral truth concerning every human being.
κοινοῖkoinoiis not defiledG2840
√ κοινόω — to make (or consider) profane (ceremonially)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
κοινόω: to make or consider profane Present active indicative, third singular, with the negative οὐ following. The verb is built on κοινός, common; it is the very word Peter will use in Acts 10:14 when he refuses to eat what is common or unclean, which Ellicott and Cambridge both note. So the word Jesus sets loose here is the word that will still be binding Peter's conscience years later.
οὐou. . .G3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
τὸtoby whatG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
εἰσερχόμενονeiserchomenonentersG1525
√ εἰσέρχομαι — to enter (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveNominative Neuter Singular
εἰσέρχομαι: to enter Present middle or passive participle, nominative neuter singular, substantivized by the article. The neuter keeps the statement general: not “unclean meat,” not “bread taken with unwashed hands,” but anything at all that enters. Pulpit observes that Jesus nonetheless says “that which goeth into the mouth” rather than “no food whatever,” perhaps so as not to shock inveterate prejudice.
εἰςeis. . .G1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὸto[his]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
στόμαstomamouthG4750
√ στόμα — the mouth (as if a gash in the face)NounAccusative Neuter Singular
στόμα: the mouth, as if a gash in the face The pivot word of the unit, used in both halves of the sentence in two different senses. Pulpit marks the shift: in the first clause the mouth is the instrument that receives food; in the second it is the organ of the heart, giving outward expression to inward thought.
ἀλλὰallabutG235
√ ἀλλά — properly, other things, iConjunction
τοῦτοtoutoG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Neuter Singular
κοινοῖkoinoiG2840
√ κοινόω — to make (or consider) profane (ceremonially)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἄνθρωπονanthrōponG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounAccusative Masculine Singular
τὸtoby whatG3588
√ 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
ἐκπορεύομαι: to proceed, be discharged The counterweight participle. Jesus does not yet say what comes out, and that reticence is why Peter must ask in v. 15. Only at v. 18 is the source named as the heart, and at v. 19 the contents are itemized.
ἐκekout ofG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Neuter Singular
στόματοςstomatos[it]G4750
√ στόμα — the mouth (as if a gash in the face)NounGenitive Neuter Singular
12

Then the disciples came to Him and said, “Are You aware that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Tote hoi mathētai proselthontes autō legousin Oidas hoti hoi Pharisaioi eskandalisthēsan akousantes ton logon

Word by word14 · parsed
ΤότεToteThenG5119
√ τότε — the when, iAdverb
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
μαθηταὶmathētaidisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
μαθητής: a learner, disciple The same noun stands in Mark 7:2, where it is the disciples' unwashed hands that begin the whole controversy. They are now the ones anxious about the fallout.
προσελθόντεςproselthontescameG4334
√ προσέρχομαι — to approach, iVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
αὐτῷautōto HimG846
√ 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 Singular
λέγουσινlegousin[and] saidG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
λέγω: to lay forth, say Present indicative in a past narrative. The Gospel writers use this historic present at moments of pressure; here the pressure is the disciples' alarm, which Ellicott describes as half perplexity at the teaching and half fear of its consequences.
ΟἶδαςOidasAre You awareG1492
√ εἴδω — used only in certain past tenses, the others being borrowed from the equivalent G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι) and G3708 (ὁράω)VerbPerfect Indicative Active2nd Person Singular
ὅτιhotithatG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ΦαρισαῖοιPharisaioiPhariseesG5330
√ Φαρισαῖος — a separatist, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
ἐσκανδαλίσθησανeskandalisthēsanwere offendedG4624
√ σκανδαλίζω — to entrap, iVerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Plural
σκανδαλίζω: to entrap, cause to stumble (passive) The root is σκάνδαλον, a trap or snare laid in a path. The passive is grim irony in this context: the men who are about to be called blind guides have themselves been tripped, and the thing they tripped over was the truth. Poole names what it is in hypocrites that trips: nothing offends them more than pressing spiritual worship and the slighting of external rites.
ἀκούσαντεςakousanteswhen they heardG191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἀκούω: to hear (aorist participle) The verb commanded to the crowd in v. 10 is here what the Pharisees did and were snared by. Hearing without συνίημι is not neutral in this unit; it is the condition in which offence is taken.
τὸνtonthisG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
λόγονlogonG3056
√ λόγος — something said (including the thought)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
λόγος: word, saying Barnes and JFB agree the grievance is doctrinal, not personal. JFB adds a detail from the narrative shape: the Pharisees seem to have vented their irritation not to Jesus, from whom they had slunk away, but to some of the disciples, who report it to their Master.
13

But Jesus replied, “Every plant that My heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by its roots.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Ho apokritheis eipen Pasa phyteia hēn mou ho ouranios ho Patēr ouk ephyteusen ekrizōthēsetai

Word by word15 · parsed
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὉHoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἀποκριθεὶςapokritheis[Jesus] repliedG611
√ ἀποκρίνομαι — to conclude for oneself, iVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
ἀποκρίνομαι: to answer, conclude for oneself A pleonastic participle with εἶπεν, characteristic of the Gospels' Semitic texture. Gill hears its tone as unconcern: Jesus answers as having nothing to fear from the Pharisees' rage and as well satisfied that what He had said was right.
εἶπενeipenG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ΠᾶσαPasaEveryG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveNominative Feminine Singular
φυτείαphyteiaplantG5451
√ φυτεία — trans-planting, iNounNominative Feminine Singular
φυτεία: a planting, plantation A New Testament hapax (Cambridge). The choice of the collective noun is what lets the saying cut at a whole system rather than at individuals. Ellicott reads it with the parable of the tares, so that the men regarded as pre-eminently religious turn out to be tares and not wheat; Cambridge is blunter and takes the plant cultivated by human hands to be the doctrine of the Pharisees; Gill allows both things and persons.
ἣνhēnthatG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounAccusative Feminine Singular
μουmouMyG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Singular
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
οὐράνιοςouraniosheavenlyG3770
√ οὐράνιος — celestial, iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
οὐράνιος: celestial, heavenly An adjective, not the genitive phrase “in heaven.” The Greek stacks two articles, “My Father, the heavenly-one,” which sets the origin of the true planting as far from the traditions of the elders as heaven is from earth.
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΠατήρPatērFatherG3962
√ πατήρ — a "father" (literally or figuratively, near or more remote)NounNominative Masculine Singular
πατήρ: father The Father is named as the only legitimate planter. JFB reaches for the title the Lord later gives Him, the great Husbandman of John 15:1, and draws the general rule that whatsoever is not of the Father's planting shares the same fate.
οὐκoukvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
ἐφύτευσενephyteusenhas not plantedG5452
√ φυτεύω — to set out in the earth, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
φυτεύω: to set out in the earth Aorist active. The verb and the noun φυτεία share a root, so the Greek reads “every planting which He did not plant,” a figure English cannot keep without repetition.
ἐκριζωθήσεταιekrizōthēsetaiwill be pulled up by its rootsG1610
√ ἐκριζόω — to uprootVerbFuture Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
ἐκριζόω: to uproot Future passive; a rare verb, found in only four verses. It is the word of complete removal, root and all, not of pruning. Set against φυτεία, it makes one sentence contain the entire life of a plantation from setting out to tearing up, and Gill notes that the rabbis themselves spoke of God planting trees in this world and rooting up what does not prosper.
14

Disregard them! They are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

aphete autous eisin typhloi hodēgoi typhlōn de ean typhlos hodēgē typhlon amphoteroi pesountai eis bothynon

Word by word15 · parsed
ἄφετεapheteDisregardG863
√ ἀφίημι — an intensive form of , to go)VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
ἀφίημι: to send away, let go Aorist imperative plural. Poole hears behind it the dreadful permission of Hosea 4:17, Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone, and applies it: these men are joined to their superstitious traditions. Benson reads it pastorally instead, neither court their favour nor dread their displeasure. Both senses fit the one verb, which is why the Greek is heavier than “disregard.”
αὐτούςautousthemG846
√ 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 Plural
εἰσινeisinThey areG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
τυφλοίtyphloiblindG5185
√ τυφλός — opaque (as if smoky), iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
τυφλός: opaque, as if smoky; blind The adjective appears four times in this verse in three different cases. Ellicott presses what is worst in it: their blindness was self-chosen, and they were unconscious of it, and boasted that they saw (John 9:41).
ὁδηγοίhodēgoiguidesG3595
√ ὁδηγός — a conductor (literally or figuratively (teacher))NounNominative Masculine Plural
ὁδηγός: a conductor, guide The office word. Gill records an old Jewish tradition that there should be blind teachers at the time when God should have His tabernacle among them, and points to Isaiah 42:19; whether or not the tradition is authentic, the irony of the title is in the text itself.
τυφλῶνtyphlōnG5185
√ τυφλός — opaque (as if smoky), iAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐὰνeanIfG1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
τυφλὸςtyphlos[a] blind [man]G5185
√ τυφλός — opaque (as if smoky), iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
ὁδηγῇhodēgēleadsG3594
√ ὁδηγέω — to show the way (literally or figuratively (teach))VerbPresent Subjunctive Active3rd Person Singular
ὁδηγέω: to show the way Present subjunctive with ἐάν, a general condition: whenever this happens, this follows. Pulpit calls attention to the word order, blind blind if he lead, which substantiates the advice to let them alone by putting the two blind men side by side before the verb arrives.
τυφλὸνtyphlon[a] blind [man]G5185
√ τυφλός — opaque (as if smoky), iAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Singular
ἀμφότεροιamphoteroibothG297
√ ἀμφότερος — (in plural) bothAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἀμφότερος: both The word that refuses to let the follower off. Benson presses it: the guides and the guided, the blind leaders and the blind followers, shall perish together, and the sin of the deceivers is no security to the deceived. Barnes grounds the justice of it in the fact that the led are free in choosing such leaders.
πεσοῦνταιpesountaiwill fallG4098
√ πίπτω — to fall (literally or figuratively)VerbFuture Indicative Middle3rd Person Plural
εἰςeisintoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
βόθυνονbothynona pitG999
√ βόθυνος — a hole (in the ground)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
βόθυνος: a hole in the ground, pitfall A rare noun, in only three verses. Poole reduces the whole verse to one sentence: an ignorant and unfaithful ministry is the greatest plague God can send amongst a people. Pulpit reads the pit in two senses at once, unbelief in Christ, and the ruin that overtook the Jewish polity.
15

Peter said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de ho Petros Apokritheis eipen autō Phrason tautēn tēn parabolēn hēmin

Word by word11 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΠέτροςPetrosPeterG4074
√ Πέτρος — a (piece of) rock (larger than G3037 (λίθος))NounNominative Masculine Singular
Πέτρος: a piece of rock Named alone in Matthew, where Mark 7:17 has the disciples collectively. Gill supposes he was the eldest and generally their spokesman; Barnes says plainly that an omission is not a contradiction; Poole observes that Jesus' own reply in v. 16 is plural, “are ye,” which settles that Peter spoke for the group.
ἈποκριθεὶςApokritheissaidG611
√ ἀποκρίνομαι — to conclude for oneself, iVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
ἀποκρίνομαι: to answer Aorist passive participle in the idiomatic sense. The doubled construction “answering he said” is the same one used of Jesus in v. 13, framing the private dialogue with the public verdict.
εἶπενeipen. . .G2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτῷautōto HimG846
√ 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 Singular
ΦράσονPhrasonExplainG5419
√ φράζω — to indicate (by word or act), iVerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
φράζω: to make plain, declare Aorist imperative, second singular. Peter asks for the interpretation of a saying, exactly as the disciples had asked for the interpretation of the Sower, and Ellicott draws the conclusion: to him it seemed a dark enigmatic saying needing an explanation to make its meaning clear.
ταύτηνtautēnthisG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounAccusative Feminine Singular
τὴνtēnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
παραβολήνparabolēnparableG3850
√ παραβολή — a similitude ("parable"), iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
παραβολή: a similitude, a dark saying The word exposes the disciples' difficulty. Gill notes the saying seemed contrary not only to the traditions of the elders but to the laws of God respecting clean and unclean meats, and therefore they called it a parable and asked for an explanation. Pulpit is gentler and more honest about all of us: inveterate prejudices die hard.
ἡμῖνhēminto usG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounDative 1st Person Plural
16

“Do you still not understand?” Jesus asked.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

este hymeis kai Akmēn asynetoi de Ho eipen

Word by word8 · parsed
ἐστεesteDoG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
ὑμεῖςhymeisyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 2nd Person Plural
σύ / ὑμεῖς: you (emphatic) The explicit pronoun does the work of italics. Poole draws the standard of judgment out of it: God expects a proficiency in knowledge from us proportionate to the means He gives us, and these men had the means of His own company.
καὶkaivvvG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἈκμὴνAkmēnstillG188
√ ἀκμήν — adverbially, just now, iAdverb
ἀκμήν: just now, even yet A rare adverbial accusative, found here only in the New Testament. Pulpit fills in what “even yet” includes: the teaching, the life, the miracles already given, and still no understanding of wherein real purity consists.
ἀσύνετοίasynetoinot understandG801
√ ἀσύνετος — unintelligentAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἀσύνετος: unintelligent, without understanding The exact negation of v. 10's command συνίετε, so the rebuke is measured by the summons: they have not done the one thing the crowd was told to do. The word is rare, in five verses, and Paul uses it in Romans 1:21 of the darkened heart of the nations, which puts the disciples uncomfortably close to a category they would not have claimed. Cambridge points the other way, to the spiritual understanding of Colossians 1:9 that they still lacked.
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὉHoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
εἶπενeipen[Jesus] askedG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
17

“Do you not yet realize that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then is eliminated?

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

ou noeite hoti pan to eisporeuomenon eis to stoma chōrei eis tēn koilian kai ekballetai eis aphedrōna

Word by word17 · parsed
οὐouvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
νοεῖτεnoeiteDo you not yet realizeG3539
√ νοιέω — to exercise the mind (observe), iVerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
νοιέω / νοέω: to exercise the mind, perceive Present indicative with οὐ. The argument that follows is not revelation but observation, and Pulpit notes what Jesus does not do here: He raises no question about the mutual influence of soul and body, but puts forward an argument that every one could receive, plain even to those without understanding.
ὅτιhotithatG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
πᾶνpanwhateverG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveNominative Neuter Singular
τὸtoG3588
√ 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
εἰςeis. . .G1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
στόμαstomamouthG4750
√ στόμα — the mouth (as if a gash in the face)NounAccusative Neuter Singular
χωρεῖchōreigoesG5562
√ χωρέω — to be in (give) space, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
χωρέω: to give or occupy space The choice of this verb keeps food inside the category of space and matter. Ellicott draws the principle: a process purely physical from first to last cannot in itself bring any moral defilement, although the appetites attached to it may, and those appetites were already there, among the things that come out of the heart.
εἰςeisintoG1519
√ 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
κοιλία: a cavity, the belly The belly is named, not the soul. Gill presses the anatomy as theology: what goes in enters the body and passes through it, and, as Mark says, enters not into the heart, which is the seat of moral impurity.
καὶkaiand thenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐκβάλλεταιekballetaiis eliminatedG1544
√ ἐκβάλλω — to eject (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
ἐκβάλλω: to eject, cast out Present middle or passive. Mark's parallel adds the words “purging all meats,” which Ellicott calls somewhat perplexing; Matthew leaves the verb to do the work alone.
εἰςeis. . .G1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
ἀφεδρῶναaphedrōna. . .G856
√ ἀφεδρών — a place of sitting apart, iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
ἀφεδρών: a place of sitting apart, a latrine A rare noun, occurring in only two verses of Scripture, here and in Mark's parallel. It is the one word in this unit that BSB declines to render at all. Kept in view, it finishes the first half of v. 11 with something close to contempt: the whole apparatus of clean and unclean eating is argued down by naming where the food ends.
18

But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a man.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de ta ekporeuomena ek tou stomatos exerchetai ek tēs kardias kakeina koinoi ton anthrōpon

Word by word14 · parsed
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
τὰtathe thingsG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Plural
ἐκπορευόμεναekporeuomenathat comeG1607
√ ἐκπορεύομαι — to depart, be discharged, proceed, projectVerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveNominative Neuter Plural
ἐκπορεύομαι: to proceed, be discharged The participle from v. 11 returns, now in the plural, and is immediately given a deeper origin. Gill notes what is not meant: not material things, not spittle or vomit, but what is first conceived and formed in the heart and then expressed by the mouth.
ἐκekout ofG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
τοῦtoutheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Neuter Singular
στόματοςstomatosmouthG4750
√ στόμα — the mouth (as if a gash in the face)NounGenitive Neuter Singular
ἐξέρχεταιexerchetaicomeG1831
√ ἐξέρχομαι — to issue (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
ἐξέρχομαι: to issue, come out The second exit verb. Its subject is the things already said to proceed from the mouth, so the sentence does not describe two events but relocates one. Pulpit guards it against overstatement: Jesus does not assert that everything issuing from a man's mouth defiles him, since many good things may come from a man's mouth, but that the evil he utters is fraught with pollution to his moral nature.
ἐκekfromG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
τῆςtēstheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
καρδίαςkardiasheartG2588
√ καρδία — the heart, iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
καρδία: the heart The unit's centre of gravity, and Pulpit defines it at full stretch: the heart stands for soul, mind, spirit, will, the whole inner man, that which makes him what he is, a conscious, intelligent, responsible being; hence words, acts and consequences are all attributed to it. Gill makes it hydraulic instead, the corrupt fountain from which all moral defilement flows. Henry grounds both in Jeremiah 17:9.
κἀκεῖναkakeinaand these thingsG2548
√ κἀκεῖνος — likewise that (or those)Demonstrative PronounNominative Neuter Plural
κἀκεῖνος: and that one, likewise those A crasis, pointing forward to the seven items of v. 19 before they are named. The demonstrative does the work of a colon.
κοινοῖkoinoidefileG2840
√ κοινόω — to make (or consider) profane (ceremonially)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
κοινόω: to make common, profane The fifth and central occurrence of the unit's key verb, and the first time it is given a named source. JFB draws the whole balance here: nothing which enters from without can really defile us, and only the evil that is in the heart, allowed to stir there, to rise up in thought and affection, and to flow forth in voluntary action, really defiles a man.
τὸνtonaG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἄνθρωπονanthrōponmanG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounAccusative Masculine Singular
19

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

gar ek tēs kardias exerchontai ponēroi dialogismoi phonoi moicheiai porneiai klopai pseudomartyriai blasphēmiai

Word by word13 · parsed
γὰρgarForG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
ἐκekout ofG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
τῆςtēstheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
καρδίαςkardiasheartG2588
√ καρδία — the heart, iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
καρδία: the heart Repeated from v. 18 and now governed by γὰρ, “for,” so that v. 19 is offered as the evidence for v. 18's claim rather than as a new subject: the list is a proof, not a decoration. The preposition is again ἐκ with the genitive, out from, the same construction used of the mouth in v. 11, which means the sentence has simply moved the origin one stage further in. Henry hears Jeremiah 17:9 behind it and draws the inference the verse itself implies, that there is no sin in word or deed which was not first in the heart; Pulpit closes his note on this verse with Proverbs 4:23, keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.
ἐξέρχονταιexerchontaicomeG1831
√ ἐξέρχομαι — to issue (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Plural
πονηροίponēroievilG4190
√ πονηρός — hurtful, iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
πονηρός: hurtful, evil An adjective of active harm, not mere badness. Pulpit warns where the fault lies: the wickedness springs from within, and if a man admits the tempter it is his own will that is in fault, encouraging the evil imagination and not at once resisting and repelling it.
διαλογισμοὶdialogismoithoughtsG1261
√ διαλογισμός — discussion, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
διαλογισμός: reasoning, deliberation The first item and, by Barnes' reckoning, the fountain of all the others, since thought precedes action and gives conduct its character. JFB's observation is the sharpest in the brief: these same corrupt reasonings had stealthily introduced and gradually reared up the fabric of tradition which at length practically nullified the unchangeable principles of the moral law. The hedge and the crime come out of one faculty.
φόνοιphonoimurderG5408
√ φόνος — murderNounNominative Masculine Plural
φόνος: murder Barnes locates the seat of it: the malice has its seat in the heart, and the murder therefore proceeds from the heart, 1 John 3:15. Gill widens the plural to inveterate hatred, malice prepense, schemes against life, angry and wrathful words, and actual effusion of blood.
μοιχεῖαιmoicheiaiadulteryG3430
√ μοιχεία — adulteryNounNominative Feminine Plural
πορνεῖαιporneiaisexual immoralityG4202
√ πορνεία — harlotry (including adultery and incest)NounNominative Feminine Plural
πορνεία: harlotry, sexual immorality Barnes cross-references the Sermon on the Mount at Matthew 5:28, where the adultery is committed in the heart, which is the same argument as this verse made earlier and in fewer words.
κλοπαίklopaitheftG2829
√ κλοπή — stealingNounNominative Feminine Plural
ψευδομαρτυρίαιpseudomartyriaifalse testimonyG5577
√ ψευδομαρτυρία — untrue testimonyNounNominative Feminine Plural
ψευδομαρτυρία: untrue testimony A rare noun, in only two verses of Scripture; the other is Matthew 26:59, where the council seeks false testimony against Jesus. Barnes ties it to the ninth commandment and to a desire to injure others; Gill to swearing falsely against a neighbour's name, person or estate; Benson to a complication of falsehood with covetousness or malice, and adds that if truth, holiness and love reigned in the heart there would be no bearing false witness.
βλασφημίαιblasphēmiai[and] slanderG988
√ βλασφημία — vilification (especially against God)NounNominative Feminine Plural
βλασφημία: vilification, especially against God The last item, and Ellicott reads the order as an ascent that ends here, with revilings that have God for their object; he hears in that end point the evil surmises which had led the Pharisees at Matthew 12:24 to words that were blasphemy against the Son of Man and came perilously near the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Cambridge takes it instead as summing up the first table of the Decalogue, where Mark has covetousness and so completes the decalogue. JFB simply calls the whole catalogue appalling.
20

These are what defile a man, but eating with unwashed hands does not defile him.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

tauta estin ta koinounta ton anthrōpon de to phagein aniptois chersin ou koinoi ton anthrōpon

Word by word15 · parsed
ταῦτάtautaTheseG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Neuter Plural
ἐστινestinareG1510
√ 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
κοινόω: to make common (present participle) The sixth and final occurrence of the verb in the unit, in a form that makes it characteristic rather than occasional. Gill states the full charge: these are filthy in themselves and must pollute all in whom they are, bringing defilement on the whole man, both body and soul, fastening guilt upon him.
τὸνtonaG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἄνθρωπονanthrōponmanG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounAccusative Masculine Singular
δὲdebutG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
τὸtoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
φαγεῖνphageineatingG5315
√ φάγω — to eat (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Infinitive Active
φάγω: to eat Aorist infinitive with the article. Poole's summary of the whole unit turns on this contrast: the inward motions of the heart pollute it in their nest, pollute the lips in their passage, and pollute the man in their overt act, whereas to eat with unwashen hands, a thing nowhere forbidden by God, does not pollute a man at all.
ἀνίπτοιςaniptoiswith unwashedG449
√ ἄνιπτος — without ablutionAdjectiveDative Feminine Plural
ἄνιπτος: without ablution, unwashed A rare adjective, in only two verses, and the other is Mark 7:2, the charge that opened the controversy. The discourse therefore closes on the exact word it began with, which is why JFB calls this the summing up of the whole searching discourse and Pulpit says it recalls the circumstance that led to it.
χερσὶνchersinhandsG5495
√ χείρ — the hand (literally or figuratively (power)NounDative Feminine Plural
οὐouvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
κοινοῖkoinoidoes not defileG2840
√ κοινόω — to make (or consider) profane (ceremonially)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
κοινόω: to make common The final negation, and the anticlimax is deliberate. Poole is careful about the limit of what is being denied: it is possible for men to sin in not obeying the commandments of men, but only in things in which God has authorized them to command, because the pollution lies in disobedience to the commandment of God and not of men. Barnes reads the whole verse the other way, as an exclamation over what has been exposed: what a fountain of pollution is the human soul, what an array of crimes to proceed from the heart of 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

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 change of venue — 15:10

⚙ The unit opens with an act before it opens with a word. προσκαλεσάμενος is an aorist middle participle: Jesus calls the crowd to Himself. Ellicott reads the gesture as the argument and says the act was more startling than appears on the surface, since Jesus appealed to no great name and no higher tribunal but removed the case to another court, the unperverted conscience of the common people. Gill fills in the physical picture from the other side: the crowd had withdrawn and stood at a distance out of veneration for the teachers, who would not have them near. Cambridge draws the ecclesiology: this appeal to the multitude as worthier than the Pharisees to receive divine truths is significant of the popular character of the Kingdom of heaven. Then two present imperatives, Ἀκούετε and συνίετε, keep on hearing and keep on putting together. Benson presses the second one hard and honestly: since the whole multitude is told to understand, in our Lord's judgment the whole multitude was capable of understanding the very thing the Pharisees did not. Gill adds the mechanics, that to hear with the outward ear is of no service unless what is heard is understood, and that the way to understand is to hear.

ii. Made common: the sentence that emptied the ceremonial law — 15:11

⚙ The Greek fronts τὸν ἄνθρωπον, the man, before any food is mentioned, and repeats κοινοῖ three times. Cambridge gives the literal sense, maketh common, and Pulpit sets the verb against ἁγιάζειν, to set apart for God, so that to be made common is to be pulled out of holy use; ethically applied, Pulpit says, it signifies to contract guilt. Two balanced neuter participles do the rest: the-thing-entering and the-thing-going-out. Barnes reduces it to the moral agent, the man, the soul, which could not be polluted by anything that was eaten. Poole is the most careful of the voices here: he denies that Jesus is speaking of Levitical pollution at all, and grants that one who ate an unclean thing might indeed be defiled by it, yet insists that even then it was not the flesh of the unclean bird or beast that defiled the man, but his sinful lusting after it and eating it in disobedience to the command of God. Ellicott goes much further and says the principle swept away the whole Levitical system of ceremonial purity, while Pulpit refuses that reading and says only that Christ prepared the way for its supersession and made no sudden and violent change. We record the disagreement; the brief does not settle it. What both sides see is the aftershock: Ellicott observes that even after Pentecost Peter still boasted he had never eaten anything common or unclean (Acts 10:14), which is the same word.

iii. Snared, uprooted, and let go — 15:12-14

⚙ Three Greek words govern this movement, and each is stronger than its English. ἐσκανδαλίσθησαν is aorist passive from σκανδαλίζω, to set a trap: the Pharisees were not merely offended, they were snared, and what tripped them was a sentence. Poole says nothing offends hypocrites more than pressing spiritual worship and slighting external rites; Barnes says they were so zealous of their traditions that they could not endure that their absurdities should be exposed; Cambridge reads the disciples' anxiety as a proof of Pharisaic influence, since they believed Christ would be concerned to have offended those who stood so high in popular favour. Then φυτεία, a New Testament hapax which Cambridge notes the Septuagint uses of the vine, the most carefully cultivated plant, and which Benson and Pulpit alike render plantation rather than plant: a whole set-out growth, not one shoot. Its fate is the future passive ἐκριζωθήσεται, it shall be rooted out, agent unnamed. JFB names the Husbandman anyway from John 15:1 and generalizes, whatsoever is not of the planting of My heavenly Father shall share the same fate; Pulpit narrows it, insisting this is not the last day and not any forcible destruction by human agency but a system passing away to make room for the gospel; Gill splits the referent, doctrines on one side and persons on the other, and reserves for the Father real plants that shall never be plucked up. Last, ἄφετε, the aorist imperative of the releasing verb: let them go. Poole hears Hosea 4:17 in it, Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone, while Benson hears pastoral freedom, neither court their favour nor dread their displeasure, and Barnes warns that it cannot mean leaving their error unrefuted, since Jesus is at that moment refuting it. Then four occurrences of τυφλός and a root repeated as noun and verb, ὁδηγοί and ὁδηγῇ. Ellicott shows from Romans 2:19 that guide of the blind was the rabbi's own name for his calling, so the title is handed back inverted; Pulpit notices the word order, blind blind if he lead. And ἀμφότεροι, both, closes the escape: Benson says the guides and the guided shall perish together, and the sin of the deceivers is no security to the deceived.

iv. The mouth, the belly, the heart — 15:15-20

⚙ Peter asks for a παραβολή to be made plain, and the word itself is the confession: Barnes notes it can mean a dark or obscure saying (Psalm 78:2), and Poole that the Hebrews called all dark sayings parables. The plainest sentence in the chapter had become a riddle, because, as Pulpit says, inveterate prejudices die hard. Jesus' reply turns v. 10's command into an accusation with one word: ἀσύνετοί is the alpha-privative of the very verb συνίημι they were told to exercise. Ellicott catches the emphatic pronoun, ye, My disciples, are ye too like the Pharisees; JFB hears grief rather than temper, since slowness of apprehension in His genuine disciples grieves the Saviour; Poole supplies the measure, that God expects proficiency proportionate to the means He gives. Then the argument itself, built on three physical verbs: χωρεῖ, to be given room, ἐκβάλλεται, to be thrown out, and the rare noun ἀφεδρῶνα, the latrine, which BSB declines to render at all. Ellicott states the principle: a process purely physical from first to last cannot in itself bring moral defilement, though the appetites attached to it may, and those appetites were there before the food, among the things that come out of the heart. Against that stands καρδίας, the heart, the genitive of source, and a doubled exit, the participle ἐκπορευόμενα with the indicative ἐξέρχεται. Pulpit defines the noun at full stretch: the heart stands for soul, mind, spirit, will, the whole inner man. Gill makes it a watercourse, the corrupt fountain from which all moral defilement flows and sinful words and actions the impure streams. Then the catalogue, every item plural. Cambridge and Pulpit both see the second table of the Decalogue in the order; JFB glosses διαλογισμοὶ as evil reasonings and points them at the very tradition-building that started this argument, adding that the first shape evil takes when it stirs is reasonings about suggested actions; Ellicott traces an ascent from the trains of thought that are the first suggestions of evil to the βλασφημίαι that have God for their object, and hears in that end point the Pharisees of Matthew 12:24. The unit closes where it began, with unwashed hands, and JFB is right that this is how our Lord sums up the whole searching discourse. Gill will not leave it at diagnosis: nothing short of the blood of Christ can cleanse what this list has exposed.

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

⚙ Offered to be tested. The hinge of this unit is a single Greek verb used five times, κοινόω, to make common. Not to dirty. To de-consecrate. Pulpit's gloss, that it stands opposed to ἁγιάζειν, to set apart for God, is the key that fits the whole passage, and it reframes the question the Pharisees thought they were asking. They asked what substances carry contagion. Jesus answers a different question: what actually takes a human being out of holy use. And His answer is that nothing which is merely given room in the body (χωρεῖ) and then thrown out (ἐκβάλλεται) into the sewer (ἀφεδρῶνα) can reach that far in. The mouth appears twice in v. 11 and twice more in vv. 17 and 18, and the two appearances mean two different things, as Pulpit saw: an intake valve, and the organ of the heart. Traffic in one direction is digestion. Traffic in the other direction is disclosure.

⚙ What we think the unit is doing, and offer for correction, is this: it does not make the heart worse than the law said, it makes the heart the only place the law was ever aimed. The seven items of v. 19 are not a list of unusually bad people; they are the second table of the Decalogue read backwards, from act to source, as Cambridge and Pulpit both observe. And the sequence is exact, διαλογισμοὶ πονηροί first: evil reasonings, JFB's rendering, the deliberations that talk a sin into plausibility before it is ever done. JFB's further observation is the sharpest thing in this brief: those very reasonings are what built the tradition that nullified the moral law. So the Pharisees' hedge and the murderer's plan come out of one faculty. That is why the unit puts the offence of v. 12 and the catalogue of v. 19 in the same paragraph, and why the plantation the Father did not plant is uprooted in between them.

⚙ And then the honest difficulty, which we do not think this unit closes. Jesus diagnoses; He does not here prescribe. The passage names the fountain and says nothing about cleaning it. If the heart is the source, no washing that begins at the hands can reach it, and the unit offers no substitute ritual. Gill supplies what the text withholds, that nothing short of the blood of Christ can cleanse from this pollution, and Henry, that Christ teaches men to humble themselves and to seek to be cleansed in the Fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. We judge that reading correct but we note that it is a reading, drawn from elsewhere in Scripture and not from these eleven verses, which end, with deliberate anticlimax, on unwashed hands.

Not to dirty, but to de-consecrate: the question is not what touches a man, but what takes him out of holy use.

⚙

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.

Mark's parallel: the same discourse, the same rare vocabulary verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ Mark 7:14 to 23 carries this discourse with, as Poole says, very small difference in words, only specifying more sins than Matthew enumerates. The Verifier confirms the link at the level of vocabulary rather than theme: ἐκπορεύομαι (G1607), εἰσπορεύομαι (G1531), κοινόω (G2840) and ἄνιπτος (G449) all recur, and the decisive one is ἀφεδρών (G856), the latrine, which occurs in only two verses of the whole New Testament: Matthew 15:17 and Mark 7:19. Several commentators read Matthew through Mark at just these points: Barnes and JFB both cite Mark's added clause, if any man have ears to hear, let him hear; Ellicott calls Mark's further words, purging all meats, somewhat perplexing; Gill uses Mark's phrase entereth not into the heart to carry Matthew's argument.

Mark 7:15 · Mark 7:18 · Mark 7:19 · Mark 7:20 · Mark 7:21 · Mark 7:23 · Mark 7:2

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G856 ἀφεδρών (in 2 vv, the rarest possible link), G449 ἄνιπτος (in 2 vv), G2840 κοινόω (in 11 vv), G1531 εἰσπορεύομαι (in 18 vv), G1607 ἐκπορεύομαι (in 33 vv). Both refs are Greek New Testament, so shared Strong's numbers are a legitimate verbal basis; this is Gospel parallel, not quotation of one by the other

Blind leading blind: the proverb in two settings verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ The same saying stands in Luke 6:39, and Cambridge notes plainly that the proverb is quoted there in a different connection, as part of the Sermon on the Plain. The verbal overlap is tight and rare. Pulpit treats the saying as proverbial in the wider world too, citing Horace and a Greek adage, and Ellicott judges the proverb probably familiar but says that, as now spoken, it had the character of a prophecy. The βόθυνος also links this verse to Matthew 12:11, where a sheep falls into a pit on the Sabbath, another argument in which Jesus sets a plain fact of ordinary life against a rule of the teachers.

Luke 6:39 · Matthew 12:11

basis: Verifier: Luke 6:39 shares G999 βόθυνος (in 3 vv, rare), G3594 ὁδηγέω (in 5 vv, rare) and G297 ἀμφότερος (in 14 vv); Matthew 12:11 shares G999 βόθυνος (in 3 vv). Greek to Greek, so shared Strong's numbers are a valid verbal basis; Cambridge confirms the saying stands in both places

Made common: the word that follows Peter into Acts verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ κοινόω (G2840) occurs in only eleven verses of the New Testament, and a cluster of them are Peter's. Ellicott presses the irony: even after Pentecost, Peter still boasted that he had never eaten anything common or unclean (Acts 10:14), and Cambridge glosses the verb here by that same phrase. The voice from heaven in Acts 10:15 and 11:9 answers Peter with the verb Jesus used in his hearing: what God has cleansed, do not you make common. Acts 21:28 shows the charge turned into an accusation against Paul, that he has made the holy place common. The Verifier records the link as lexical; the biographical irony is ours and Ellicott's.

Acts 10:15 · Acts 11:9 · Acts 21:28

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G2840 κοινόω (in 11 vv), appearing three times in each of Acts 10:15, 11:9 and 21:28 as well as five times in this unit. All refs are Greek New Testament, so the shared Strong's number is a legitimate verbal basis; no citation of Matthew is claimed

False witness: the word that returns at His own trial verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ ψευδομαρτυρία (G5577) occurs in only two verses of Scripture. One is this list of what comes out of the heart and defiles a man. The other is Matthew 26:59, where the chief priests and the whole council seek false testimony against Jesus in order to put Him to death. Barnes describes the sin from the inside, concealing the truth or stating what we know to be false, proceeding from a desire to injure others. Gill defines it as swearing falsely to the hurt of a neighbour's name, person or estate. ⚙ Neither commentator draws the line to the trial; we draw it and mark it as ours. The Verifier confirms only the lexical rarity, and the same Gospel is the source of both verses.

Matthew 26:59

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G5577 ψευδομαρτυρία (in 2 vv, the rarest possible link, and both within Matthew). Greek to Greek, so shared Strong's numbers are a valid verbal basis; the theological connection drawn in the body is machine synthesis and is marked as such

Reasonings and the heart without understanding structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ Two of the unit's key words meet again in Romans 1:21, where Paul says the nations became vain in their διαλογισμοῖς and their καρδία was darkened, using ἀσύνετος in the same context. ἀσύνετος is rare, in five verses, and stands in this unit at v. 16, where the disciples are called it. Cambridge sends the reader instead to the spiritual understanding of Colossians 1:9 and the knowledge in the mystery of Christ of Ephesians 3:4. JFB's gloss of διαλογισμοί as evil reasonings makes the overlap substantive rather than incidental, since Paul is describing the same faculty going wrong.

Romans 1:21

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G801 ἀσύνετος (in 5 vv, rare), G1261 διαλογισμός (in 14 vv) and G2588 καρδία (in 149 vv). The rarity of ἀσύνετος would formally admit a verbal tier Greek to Greek, but we under-claim deliberately: Paul neither cites nor echoes this discourse, and no commentator in the brief connects the two, so the recorded basis is a shared anthropology carried in shared vocabulary

The planting the Father did not plant structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ Cambridge supplies the lexical bridge: φυτεία occurs here only in the New Testament, and the Septuagint uses it of the vine, the most carefully cultivated plant, at 2 Kings 19:29, Ezekiel 17:7 and Micah 1:6. Pulpit calls the comparison of men and trees, plant and doctrine, a common biblical metaphor and cites Psalm 1 and Isaiah 5:7, then quotes Jeremiah 2:21, I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed, how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me. Benson uses the same verse of the Jewish people. Isaiah 60:21 gives the positive counterpart, the branch of the Lord's planting, which is Gill's picture of the plants the Father does plant and which shall never be rooted up. ⚙ Because these are Hebrew texts and this is Greek, no shared Strong's number can be claimed, and none is: the link is a shared figure, carried in part through the Septuagint's use of this very noun.

Isaiah 5:1-7 · Isaiah 60:21 · Psalm 1:3 · Jeremiah 2:21 · Ezekiel 17:7

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so shared Strong's numbers are impossible and no verbal tier is claimed. Basis is a shared planting and uprooting figure, attested by Cambridge (φυτεία used in the LXX of the vine at 2 Kings 19:29, Ezekiel 17:7, Micah 1:6) and by Pulpit, who cites Psalm 1, Isaiah 5:7 and quotes Jeremiah 2:21

Blind watchmen and the pit: the prophets behind v. 14 structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ Benson quotes Isaiah 9:16 directly against this verse: though the leaders of the people cause them to err, yet they that are led of them are destroyed. Gill points to Isaiah 42:19, who is blind but my servant, and reports an old Jewish tradition of blind teachers at the time when God should have His tabernacle among them. Isaiah 56:10 gives the watchmen who are blind. Pulpit adds a lexical observation that strengthens the figure without turning it into a quotation: βόθυνος is the Septuagint's word for the Hebrew pachath, the pit in which wild animals are taken, at Isaiah 24:17, 18. ⚙ That is a translation-level contact, not a shared Strong's number, so the tier stays structural.

Isaiah 9:16 · Isaiah 56:10 · Isaiah 42:19 · Isaiah 24:17-18

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so shared Strong's numbers are unavailable and no verbal tier is claimed. Basis is the prophetic motif of blind leaders, cited by Benson (Isaiah 9:16) and Gill (Isaiah 42:19), plus Pulpit's note that the LXX renders Hebrew pachath by βόθυνος at Isaiah 24:17, 18

The heart as the source: the Old Testament diagnosis structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ Henry states the basis for this thread and states it as Scripture: it is the heart that is desperately wicked, Jeremiah 17:9, for there is no sin in word or deed which was not first in the heart. Pulpit ends his note on v. 19 with Proverbs 4:23, keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life, and with the prayer of Psalm 51:10. Genesis 6:5 supplies the root form of the same diagnosis, every imagination of the thoughts of his heart only evil continually, which sits very close to JFB's evil reasonings. ⚙ The unit is therefore not introducing a new anthropology but naming an old one and locating ceremonial washing outside its reach.

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

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so shared Strong's numbers cannot be cited and no verbal tier is claimed. Basis is a shared doctrine of the heart as the source of sin, adduced here by Henry (Jeremiah 17:9) and Pulpit (Proverbs 4:23, Psalm 51:10)

Uprooting: a shared pair of verbs, an opposite point flagged: verify source

⚙ The Verifier pairs v. 13 with Luke 17:6 on two genuinely uncommon verbs, φυτεύω (G5452) and ἐκριζόω (G1610). The vocabulary overlap is real and we record it, but the sense runs the other way: in Luke the uprooting is what faith the size of a mustard seed could command of a sycamine tree, not a judgment on a plantation the Father never planted. No commentator in this brief draws the connection. ⚙ We therefore flag it rather than assert it: a reader may verify the lexemes and judge for themselves whether anything more than shared agricultural vocabulary is present. We think probably not.

Luke 17:6

basis: Verifier reports shared Greek lexemes G5452 φυτεύω (in 11 vv) and G1610 ἐκριζόω (in 4 vv), which would formally support a verbal tier Greek to Greek. We decline it: the two contexts use the words to opposite ends and no commentator in the brief connects them, so the link is flagged as lexical coincidence pending verification

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The true Vine and the Father who plants ancient/widely-held

⚙ JFB makes the identification explicitly in the brief, naming the Father of v. 13 as the great Husbandman of John 15:1, and drawing the general rule that whatsoever is not of His planting shall share the plantation's fate. That reading has teeth, because the Old Testament figure it grows out of is a vine that failed: Isaiah's vineyard yielding wild grapes, Jeremiah's noble vine turned degenerate, which Pulpit quotes here. Cambridge notes that the Septuagint uses this very noun φυτεία of the vine. The redemptive-historical motion is therefore from a planting that must be rooted out to a planting that cannot be, and the second is a person: I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman. Gill, without leaving Matthew, already describes the Father's real plants as those planted in the likeness of Christ's death and resurrection and grafted into Christ. ⚙ That is why the uprooting of v. 13 is not simply destructive: what is cleared is cleared for a growth the Father did plant.

John 15:1 · Isaiah 5:1-7 · Jeremiah 2:21 · Isaiah 60:21

The only cleansing that reaches the fountain ancient/widely-held

⚙ This unit diagnoses without prescribing, and both Henry and Gill feel the gap and fill it from the rest of Scripture. Henry: when Christ teaches, He will show men the deceitfulness and wickedness of their own hearts, He will teach them to humble themselves, and to seek to be cleansed in the Fountain opened for sin and uncleanness, which is Zechariah 13:1. Gill, on v. 20: it is only the blood of Christ can cleanse them from the pollution and guilt of them. The logic is the passage's own. If κοινόω means to be taken out of holy use, and the agent is καρδία, then washing that starts at the hands is the wrong instrument at the wrong depth, and what is needed is a cleansing that reaches the conscience. Hebrews 9:13 to 14 argues in exactly those terms, setting the ashes that sanctify the flesh against the blood of Christ that purges the conscience, and Ezekiel 36:26 promises the organ itself replaced. ⚙ Jesus does not say this here. He says it by saying nothing else, and by ending the discourse on unwashed hands.

Zechariah 13:1 · Hebrews 9:13-14 · Ezekiel 36:26 · Titus 1:15

The guide who opens the eyes of the blind ancient/widely-held

⚙ Ellicott brings John 9:41 into v. 14: the worst of the Pharisees' blindness was that it was self-chosen and they boasted that they saw. That is the hinge of the christological reading. In the same chapter of John, the one who gave sight to a blind man says that He came into the world for judgment, that those who do not see might see and those who see might become blind. Gill sends the reader to Isaiah 42:19 for blind servants; the same prophet's servant is the one sent to open blind eyes. So v. 14's verdict on ὁδηγοί, way-leaders, is not merely negative: a blind guide is condemned because a true one exists, and the unit's own frame has Him calling a crowd to Himself and telling them to hear and understand. ⚙ The one who says let them go is the one who is Himself the way.

John 9:39-41 · Isaiah 42:6-7 · Romans 2:19 · Matthew 15:10

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)

Text: BSB (CC0) with the Berean interlinear and Strong's numbers, Greek, eleven verses, Matthew 15:10 to 20. Two words in the unit are effectively unrendered in the BSB line: ἀφεδρῶνα (G856) at 15:17, the latrine, where BSB stops at “is eliminated,” and τυφλῶν (G5185) at 15:14, the genitive “of blind ones.” Our literal renderings restore both, and the divergence notes say where they were lost.

Voices: ten public-domain commentators are present in the brief and all ten are quoted here. Matthew Henry's entry is a single block on 15:10 to 20 repeated at each verse rather than a per-verse comment, so it is cited once; Poole's notes on several verses are cross-references to his own comments elsewhere in the chapter, which limits what can be quoted from him at 15:10, 15:13, 15:17, 15:18 and 15:19; Geneva's entries at most verses are the bare verse text with no gloss, so Geneva is quoted only where a real note exists, at 15:10. Two Pulpit quotations of secondary authors are recorded in his own words and remain his: Philo on the mouth, and Fillion's distinction between the physical and the moral mouth. Gill's two rabbinic citations (Tzeror Hammor, Zohar) are reported by him; we have not verified them.

Uncertain, and left uncertain: whether this saying abrogates the Levitical food law or only prepares its supersession. Ellicott says the principle swept away the whole Levitical system of ceremonial purity; Pulpit explicitly denies that Christ here abrogated it; Poole grants that Levitical defilement was real while locating the pollution in the disobedience rather than the flesh. The brief does not settle this and neither do we. Also left open: whether φυτεία in v. 13 refers to doctrines, to persons, or to both. Gill allows both, Cambridge says the doctrine of the Pharisees, Benson extends it to the Jewish people as a whole, and that last extension is Benson's and not the verse's.

Machine layer: every paragraph marked ⚙ is fallible synthesis and is offered to be tested, in particular the link from 15:19 to the false testimony of Matthew 26:59, which no commentator in the brief draws, and our judgment that the Luke 17:6 lexical pair is coincidence. One thread is deliberately downgraded to flagged for that reason. No formula quotation of the Old Testament appears in the BSB text of this unit, and no cross-Testament thread here is tiered verbal.

✦ = 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)