Bible Strands
Mark 7:8
You have disregarded the commandment of God to keep the tradition of men.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus speaks this rebuke to the Pharisees and teachers of the law during a direct confrontation over ritual purity. He issues it immediately after quoting Isaiah to expose their hypocrisy regarding ceremonial washings.
The words — The Greek Ἀφέντες (Aphentes) translates literally as "having neglected," set against κρατεῖτε (krateite), meaning "you hold" or "you keep." The syntax presents a direct textual contrast between abandoning divine instruction and actively maintaining human custom.
The thread — This tension between human tradition and divine command appears in Mark 7:3 regarding hand-washing customs and aligns with Isaiah 1:12's condemnation of ritual without obedience. The pattern of substituting human rules for God's commands recurs in the prophetic and apostolic warnings against formalism.
Why it lands — The text requires a reader to measure every religious practice against explicit divine commands rather than inherited customs. It demands the immediate rejection of any tradition that functionally overrides God's instruction.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Mark 7:3 Now in holding to the tradition of the elders, the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat until they wash their hands ceremonially.
- Isaiah 1:12 When you come to appear before Me, who has required this of you—this trampling of My courts?