What Does Mark 7:9 Mean?
And he said to them, Finely you set aside the commandment of God, so that you may keep your own handing down.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.THE KEY
What is handed down becomes the thing preserved only by nullifying what God commands.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to the moment inherited practice is kept by setting aside what God commands. The word for “tradition” points to something handed down, while “reject” carries the force of nullifying it; the tension lies in what must be displaced for the tradition to remain.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that whatever is old or widely practiced must, by that fact alone, express obedience to God.
THE ROOT
παράδοσις
paradosis
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give; in παραδίδωμι (paradidōmi), to give over or hand along.
“handing down” in this verse is paradosis. “Tradition” names what has been handed down. The verse exposes a tension: preserving that transmission can require setting aside what God commands.
ALSO GROWS
paradidōmi: To hand over or deliver.
παραδίδωμι
This verb gives the noun its sense of something handed along.
metadidōmi: To impart or share.
μεταδίδωμι
It shows the same giving root in the act of passing something on.
ἀθετέω
atheteō
GROWS FROM
τίθημι
tithēmi
To put or place; with the privative prefix, ἀθετέω means to set aside, nullify, or reject.
“set aside” in this verse is atheteō. The verb carries more force than simply failing to follow a command: it describes setting it aside or making it void. Beside “tradition,” it shows what is displaced so the handed-down practice can be kept.
ALSO GROWS
tithēmi: To put or place.
τίθημι
This is the verb at the root of ἀθετέω’s image of setting something aside.
athetēsis: Annulment or setting aside.
ἀθέτησις
This related noun makes the force of nullifying explicit.
THE PATTERN
What is handed down can displace God’s command when preserving the inherited form takes precedence.
And the Lord says, Because this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips give me weight, but their heart has gone far from me, and their awe of me is a command of men, trained.And Samuel said, Does the LORD delight in rising offerings and slaughtered offerings as much as in hearing and responding to the voice of the LORD? Behold, hearing and responding is better than a slaughtered offering; to prick the ear is better than the fat of rams.Watch lest anyone lead you off as spoil through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the handing down of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to the Anointed One.THE THREAD
Watch lest anyone lead you off as spoil through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the handing down of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to the Anointed One.The Greek word translated “tradition” is παράδοσις (paradosis) in both verses: something handed over or passed down. Colossians makes the question vivid: what is being carried forward, and where does that transmission lead?
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us