What Does Mark 7:5 Mean in the King James?
Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The elders’ tradition is what has been handed down, and here it becomes the measure by which the disciples’ way of walking is judged.
THE MEANING
This verse meets the reader where a received standard becomes the measure used to question another person’s faithfulness. The dispute names a specific custom, eating bread with unwashen hands, and shows how that custom shapes the expected pattern of conduct.
THE ROOT
παράδοσις
paradosis
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
The Greek verb δίδωμι (didōmi) means “give”; in the compound παραδίδωμι (paradidōmi), it means “hand over” or “transmit.”
“Tradition” carries the sense of something handed on from one person to another. The question is about which received practice sets the standard for the disciples.
ALSO GROWS
paradidōmi: To hand over, deliver, or transmit.
παραδίδωμι
This related verb makes visible the act behind a tradition: someone passes it on.
dosis: A giving or gift.
δόσις
This noun shares the give-family and echoes the act of passing something into another’s hands.
περιπατοῦσιν
peripatousin
GROWS FROM
πατέω
pateō
The Greek verb πατέω (pateō) means “tread” or “step.”
“walk” in this verse is peripatousin. The verb holds literal walking and figurative conduct together. Here, an ordinary bodily action names the pattern the disciples are expected to follow.
ALSO GROWS
pateō: To tread or step.
πατέω
This is the physical action carried within the verb translated “walk.”
peripatos: A walk; figuratively, conduct or way of life.
περίπατος
This related form shows how walking can name a person’s pattern of conduct, fitting the verse’s question about how the disciples act.
THE PATTERN
A handed-down human standard can become a measure of devotion and a basis for questioning others.
Wherefore 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:Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.THE THREAD
Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.The same Greek noun, παράδοσις (paradosis), appears here as “traditions.” This verse uses it for teaching to be held, showing that the word names what is handed on; the question in Mark turns on which received practice governs the disciples.
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