Mark 7:5

Mark 7:5, in plain English

So the Pharisees and scribes confront Jesus: 'Why don't your disciples follow the traditions we've all been taught? They're eating with unwashed hands!'

Why it's here

It's framed as a question, but it's really an accusation. They're not curious — they're offended. Jesus' response will cut straight to the heart of the issue.

Who's speaking

The Pharisees and scribes directly challenge Jesus.

Where it sits in the story

The religious leaders finally get to their point: your students are breaking our rules. But Jesus is about to turn their accusation back on them in a way they never expected.

The scholarly reading

The Pharisees and scribes formally challenge Jesus: 'Why do your disciples not walk according to (peripatousin kata) the tradition of the elders?' The verb 'walk' (peripateo) is a Hebraism for living according to religious rules (halakhah).

Language and setting

The question targets Jesus' authority: by allowing his disciples to violate the tradition, he implicitly rejects the oral tradition's binding authority — a direct challenge to the Pharisaic system.

Voice

The Pharisees and scribes confront Jesus with their formal complaint.

Significance

The religious authorities pose their accusatory question: why don't your disciples follow the traditions? The question is really about Jesus' authority to override the established religious order.

3Now in holding to the tradition of the elders, the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat until they wash their hands ceremonially.

4And on returning from the market, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions for them to observe, including the washing of cups, pitchers, kettles, and couches for dining.

5So the Pharisees and scribes questioned Jesus: “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders? Instead, they eat with defiled hands.”

6Jesus answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.

7They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’

Read all of Mark 7 — Jesus declares all foods clean and then crosses into Gentile territory to heal a woman's daughter. The walls are coming down.