Mark 7:17
in Mark 7After Jesus had left the crowd and gone into the house, His disciples inquired about the parable.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And when he was entered into the house from the multitude, his disciples asked of him the parable.
KJV
And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.
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This verse in Mark 7
Commentary
11 notes on this verse(Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) Again He subjoins, If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. For He had not clearly shown them, what those things are which proceed out of a man, and defile a man; and on account of this saying, the Apostles thought that the foregoing discourse of the Lord implied some other deep thing; wherefore there follows: And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable; they called it parable, because it was not clear.
This site's exposition
His disciples inquired about the parable
on Mark 7:17-19
In the house Jesus explains that food cannot defile a man, because it does not enter his heart. Mark then adds his own comment, Thus all foods are clean.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church4 voices
The Lord begins by chiding them, wherefore there follows, Are ye so without understanding also? Then the Lord shows them what was hidden, saying, Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot make him common?
As for the apostles, who understood the Lord's speech more deeply and approached to ask Him about the "parable," that is, about this veiled speech (a parable is a veiled speech), the Lord first rebuked them, saying: "Are even you so lacking in understanding?" but …
(ubi sup.) For that man is a faulty hearer who considers what is obscure to be a clear speech, or what is clear to be obscurely spoken.
And when he had entered into the house from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them: Are you also without understanding? What had been said openly, and was clear to hear, the apostles thought was spoken in a …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
There is nothing entering into a man from without which can defile him - Though it is very true, a man may bring guilt, which is moral defilement, upon himself by eating what hurts his health, or by excess either in meat or drink yet even here the pollution arises from the wickedness of the heart, and is just proportionable to it.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
); for to them, it seems, it was a parable. Now, in answer to their enquiry, (1.) He reproves their dulness; " Are ye so without understanding also? Are ye dull also, as dull as the people that cannot understand, as dull as the Pharisees that will not?
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
And when he was entered into the house,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)
proposed
The corruption of human nature is a universal disease. It affects not only a man's heart, will, and conscience, but his mind, memory, and understanding. The very same person who is quick and clever in worldly things, will often utterly fail to comprehend the simplest truths of Christianity. He will often be unable to grasp the plainest reasonings of the Gospel. He will see no meaning in the clearest statements of evangelical doctrine. They will sound to him either foolish or mysterious. He will listen to them like one listening to a foreign language, catching a word here and there, but not seeing the drift of the whole. "The world by wisdom knows not God." (1 Cor. 1:21.) It hears, but does not understand. We must pray daily for the teaching of the Holy Spirit, if we would make progress in the knowledge of divine things. Without Him, the mightiest intellect and the strongest reasoning powers will carry us but a little way. In reading the Bible and hearing sermons, everything depends on the spirit in which we read and hear. A humble, teachable, child-like frame of mind is the grand secret of success. Happy is he who often says with David, "Teach me Your statutes." (Psalm 119:64.) Such an one will understand as well as hear. We see, in the second place, from this passage, that the heart is the chief source of defilement and impurity in God's sight . Moral purity does not depend on washing or not washing — touching things or not touching them — eating things or not eating them, as the Scribes and Pharisees taught. "There is nothing from outside a man, that entering into him can defile him — but the things which come out of him, these are what defile the man." There is a deep truth in these words which is frequently overlooked. Our original sinfulness and natural inclination to evil are seldom sufficiently considered.
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)
proposed
The corruption of human nature is a universal disease. It affects not only a man's heart, will, and conscience, but his mind, memory, and understanding. The very same person who is quick and clever in worldly things, will often utterly fail to comprehend the simplest truths of Christianity. He will often be unable to grasp the plainest reasonings of the Gospel. He will see no meaning in the clearest statements of evangelical doctrine. They will sound to him either foolish or mysterious.
How the passage was read
On Mark 7:1-23On Mark 7:1-23
Mark explaining Jewish practice to outsiders
Mark pauses mid-story to explain handwashing to his readers: “the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not” (7:3-4). A Gospel writer translating Jewish practice for outsiders is this layer's own method inside the canon. The washing is netilat yadayim, a ritual pouring over the hands before bread, extending priestly purity to the ordinary table; the Mishnah gives it a whole tractate (Yadayim 1:1), and its schools debated the meal's washings in detail (Berakhot 8:2 records a Hillel-Shammai dispute over the order of washing and mixing the cup). The korban vow Jesus then confronts, property locked away from one's parents by a dedication formula, is explained in this site's note on Numbers 30.
Verse 19's closing phrase, which most translations render “thus he declared all foods clean,” asks for plain honesty at the point of contact: observant Judaism keeps the food laws (kashrut) to this day and does not read the verse as ending them; the Christian church, reading Mark with Acts 10 and 15, historically has. The entry states the difference as difference. What both readings share is the verse's own center: defilement is not conquered at the lips but at the heart, “for from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts.”
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Sources: Mishnah Yadayim 1:1 (the handwashing rite) · Mishnah Berakhot 8:2 (the schools on the meal's washings)
The words behind it
15 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| καὶ | kai | And | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ὅτε | hote | when | G3753 → | 103 times |
| εἰσῆλθεν | eiselthen | He went | G1525 → | 194 times |
| εἰς | eis | into | G1519 → | 1755 times |
| οἶκον | oikon | [the] house | G3624 → | 112 times |
| ἀπὸ | apo | from | G575 → | 640 times |
| τοῦ | tou | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ὄχλου, | ochlou | crowd, | G3793 → | 175 times |
| ἐπηρώτων | eperoton | were asking | G1905 → | 56 times |
| αὐτὸν | auton | Him | G846 → | 5565 times |
| οἱ | hoi | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| μαθηταὶ | mathetai | disciples | G3101 → | 260 times |
| αὐτοῦ | autou | of Him | G846 → | 5565 times |
| τὴν | ten | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| παραβολήν. | parabolen | parable. | G3850 → | 50 times |
καὶAnd
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ὅτεwhen
hoteG3753 →103 times
εἰσῆλθενHe went
eiselthenG1525 →194 times
εἰςinto
eisG1519 →1755 times
οἶκον[the] house
oikonG3624 →112 times
ἀπὸfrom
apoG575 →640 times
τοῦthe
touG3588 →19766 times
ὄχλου,crowd,
ochlouG3793 →175 times
ἐπηρώτωνwere asking
eperotonG1905 →56 times
αὐτὸνHim
autonG846 →5565 times
οἱthe
hoiG3588 →19766 times
μαθηταὶdisciples
mathetaiG3101 →260 times
αὐτοῦof Him
autouG846 →5565 times
τὴνthe
tenG3588 →19766 times
παραβολήν.parable.
parabolenG3850 →50 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 13:10Then the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why do You speak to the people in parables?”
it leads to
- Mark 4:10
As soon as Jesus was alone with the Twelve and those around Him, they asked Him about the parable.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Mark 4:33–34
With many such parables Jesus spoke the word to them, to the extent that they could understand.
- Mark 4:10
Through
Matthew 15:15Peter said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.”
it leads to
- Matthew 13:36
Then Jesus dismissed the crowds and went into the house. His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Matthew 13:36
Through
Mark 4:34He did not tell them anything without using a parable. But privately He explained everything to His own disciples.
it leads to
- John 16:25
I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. An hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you this way, but will tell you plainly about the Father.
- Luke 24:27
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was written in all the Scriptures about Himself.
- Matthew 15:15–20
Peter said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.”
- John 16:25
Through
Mark 9:28After Jesus had gone into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
it leads to
- Mark 4:34
He did not tell them anything without using a parable. But privately He explained everything to His own disciples.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Matthew 17:19–20
Afterward the disciples came to Jesus privately and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
- Mark 4:34
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Mark
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Bede, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Bede, On the Gospel of Mark; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Pseudo-Chrysostom, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Theophylact of Ohrid, Catena Aurea by Aquinas and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Mark.