Translation commentary on Mark 7:8

Text:

At the end of the verse Textus Receptus, Soden, Vogels, and Merk (in parentheses) add, baptismous xestōn kai poteriōn, kai alla paromoia toiauta polla poieite ‘washings of pots and cups, and many other such like things you do’: the majority of modern editions of the Greek text omit these words.

Exegesis:

aphentes tēn entolēn tou theou ‘leaving the commandment of God.’

aphiēmi (cf. 2.5) ‘abandon,’ ‘forsake,’ ‘leave.’

entolē (7.9; 10.5, 19; 12.28, 31) ‘commandment’: the singular ‘the commandment of God’ here represents all the commandments, ‘the Law of God.’

krateite tēn paradosin tōn anthrōpōn ‘you hold on to the tradition of men.’

krateō (cf. 1.31) ‘hold to,’ ‘keep,’ ‘observe.’

paradosis (cf. 7.3) ‘tradition.’

Translation:

Without some break at the beginning of this verse, it is quite possible for people to think that these words are likewise from the book of Isaiah. Accordingly, the use of indentation, quotation marks, or special particles or forms to mark such quotations should be employed (e.g. in some languages the limits of quotations are specially marked by some form of the verb, ‘says he,’ e.g.: ‘he says … says he’). Some translations have even introduced ‘Jesus said,’ at the beginning of this verse in order to make the transition clear (e.g. Loma (Liberia)).

Commandment of God may be ‘what God commanded’ or ‘the orders which God spoke.’

Leave the commandment cannot be translated in some instances simply as ‘to abandon,’ but rather ‘to no longer do’ or even ‘to refuse to do.’

Hold fast may be rendered as ‘you are very careful to do’ or ‘you do not fail to do.’

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator's Notes on Mark 7:8

7:8a

The quote from the book of Isaiah ended at the end of 7:7b. Verse 7:8a begins Jesus’ own words. Here he addressed the Pharisees and the scribes directly. In some languages, it will be necessary to indicate explicitly that Jesus was no longer quoting from the Old Testament. For example:

And you are truly doing what Isaiah wrote about, because you have let go…
-or-
Then Jesus continued, “In the same way, you have let go…”

You have disregarded the commandment of God: The expression have disregarded means “have stopped obeying” or “have abandoned” the commandments of God. For example, the New Century Version says:

You have stopped following the commands of God

The Pharisees and scribes had stopped following God’s law at sometime in the past. At the time Jesus was speaking, they were still not following it. So in some languages it may be natural to use the present tense here. For example:

You abandon the commandments of God (God’s Word)
-or-
you ignore God’s law (New Living Translation)

7:8b

to keep the tradition of men:

There is a textual issue here that concerns the words “[as] the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.” (1) Some Greek manuscripts
do not include these words. For example, the New Living Translation says: “For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition” (Berean Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, NET Bible, New Century Version, God’s Word, New American Standard Bible, Contemporary English Version, Revised English Bible, Good News Bible, English Standard Version, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English).” (2) Other Greek texts include these words at the end of the verse. For example the King James Version says: “For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, [as] the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do” (King James Version). It is recommended that you follow option (1) as the majority of English versions do.) The expression to keep literally means “to grab” or “to seize.” Jesus used this word in a figurative sense. He meant that the Pharisees and teachers of the law carefully followed and obeyed the tradition of men. They believed that this tradition was very important. They insisted that people obey it. The same Greek word occurs in 7:3a and 7:4c.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

you follow only human teachings (New Century Version)
-or-
obey what humans have taught (Contemporary English Version)

tradition: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as tradition is the same word as in 7:3a. Another word for tradition is “customs.”

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