Mark 7:23

Greek (Tischendorf 8th ed.)

English Translation

All these evil things come from within, and defile the man."

World English Bible · Public Domain

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ἔσωθεν

ésōthen

G2081

“inside”

Adverb

Appears 12× in the Greek New Testament
First appears at Matthew 7:15

Full Thayer's Definition

Origin: from G2080

TDNT: None

1. from within 2. within, that which is within, the inside a. your soul

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

10: words
9: distinct lemmas
Gospels: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is ἔσωθεν inside G2081 — appearing just 12 times in the whole Greek New Testament.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

ἔσωθεν inside G2081 occurs in 12 verses of the Greek New Testament. Also found in:

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse:

τὰ the G3588 ×2

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Mark 7:23 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Mark 7:15 There is nothing from outside of the man, that going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man.
1 Corinthians 3:17 If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him; for God's temple is holy, which you are.
Titus 1:15 To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.
Mark 7:18 He said to them, "Are you thus without understanding also? Don't you perceive that whatever goes into the man from outside can't defile him,
Jude 1:8 Yet in like manner these also in their dreaming defile the flesh, despise authority, and slander celestial beings.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Commentary

Notes on Mark 7:23 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Bengel's Gnomon

Johann Albrecht Bengel

Mar 7:23. Πάντα, all things) O how impure is the fountain of our heart!

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Expositor's Greek Testament

ed. W. Robertson Nicoll

Mar 7:23 . Concluding reflection: all these bad things come out from within and defile the man. Commonplace now, what a startling originality then!

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And from thence he arose,.... From the land of Gennesaret, or from Capernaum, which was in it:

and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon; two cities of Phoenicia: not into them, but into the borders of them; into those parts of Galilee, which bordered on Phoenicia; See Gill on Mat 15:21.

And entered into an house; in some one of the towns, or cities, in those parts; which house might be, for the entertainment and lodging of strangers:

and would have no man know it; took all proper precaution as man, that nobody should know who, and where he was; that the, Gentiles, on whose borders he was, might not flock to him, which would create envy and disgust in the Jews:

but he could not be hid; he had wrought so many miracles in Galilee, and his fame was so much spread, and he had been seen, and was known by so many persons, that, humanly speaking, it was next to impossible, that he should be long unknown in such a place.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

Ver. 23. All these evil things] Should God but break open that sink of sin that is within us, we should never endure the stench, but rid ourselves out of the world, as Judas, Ahithophel, &c.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

International Critical Commentary

23. ἔσωθεν—from within. These things are morally unclean, while only the physically unclean comes from without.

What Jesus says here is directed specially against the traditional law, but the thing condemned, the distinction between clean and unclean, belongs also to the written law. Plainly, then, the distinction between the word of God and the word of man has to be carried within the Scripture, and used in the analysis of its contents. The thing that Jesus calls a word of man here is found also in the O.T. itself, and is fundamental in the Levitical law.

HEALING OF THE SYROPHŒNICIAN WOMAN’S DAUGHTER IN THE VICINITY OF TYRE AND SIDON

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Mark, in the Gospels, opens this verse with 10 words (9 distinct Greek lemmas). Its most distinctive word is ésōthen (“inside”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word ésōthen carries the sense “inside.” How does it shape the verse?
How does Matthew 7:15, which shares the word «inside», read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “the” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
Compare how Bengel's Gnomon and Expositor's Greek Testament read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 4 words in this verse.
“the” occurs 2× in this single verse.
9 distinct Greek lemmas span 10 words in this verse.