And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
Parallel translations
- WEB He said to them, “Full well do you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.
- BSB He went on to say, “You neatly set aside the command of God to maintain your own tradition.
- NKJV He said to them, “ All too wellyou reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.
- NASB He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.
- NLT Then he said, “You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus said they cleverly set aside God's commandment to keep their tradition. He exposes their hypocrisy as deliberate, not accidental.
Overview
With pointed irony, Jesus accused the leaders of skillfully nullifying God's law in order to preserve their own customs. Their tradition did not merely supplement Scripture but actively displaced it. The charge prepares for the concrete example of Corban that follows, where tradition is shown to overturn a clear command of God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Isa 29:13Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
- Gal 2:21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
- Jer 44:16–17As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.
- Isa 24:5The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
- Matt 15:3–6But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
- Ps 119:126It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law.
- Rom 3:31Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
- Mark 7:3For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.
- Mark 7:13Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
- 2 Kgs 16:10–16And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus: and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof.
- 2 Th 2:4Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
- Dan 7:25And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
- Dan 11:36And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
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Christ at the center
Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
How Mark 7:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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