After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand!
Parallel translations
- WEB He summoned the multitude, and said to them, “Hear, and understand.
- KJV And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:
- BSB Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, “Listen and understand.
- NKJV When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear and understand:
- NLT Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “Listen,” he said, “and try to understand.
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 calls the crowd to hear and understand a vital teaching. It matters because he is about to redefine what truly makes a person clean or unclean before God.
Overview
Turning from the Pharisees to the multitude, Jesus invites careful attention—'Hear, and understand.' This call signals that what follows overturns common assumptions about ritual purity. He is moving the focus from external ceremony to the condition of the heart. The summons to understand also marks the disciples, who will need further explanation, distinguishing genuine hearing from mere listening.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Mark 7:14–15He called all the multitude to himself, and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand.
- Luke 20:45–47In the hearing of all the people, he said to his disciples,
- Luke 24:45Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures.
- Col 1:9For this cause, we also, since the day we heard this, don’t cease praying and making requests for you, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
- Isa 6:9He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand; and you see indeed, but don’t perceive.’
- Matt 13:19When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom, and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes, and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown by the roadside.
- Matt 24:15“When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),
- 1 Kgs 22:28Micaiah said, “If you return at all in peace, Yahweh has not spoken by me.” He said, “Listen, all you people!”
- Isa 55:3Turn your ear, and come to me. Hear, and your soul will live: and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
- Eph 1:17that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him;
- Jas 1:5But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him.
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 15:10 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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