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Mark draws on Leviticus, which is rarely used in the gospels or Acts, and pairs it with Deuteronomy in a legal debate between Jesus and Pharisees. The quote is unusual because it does not match the Greek translation of Leviticus.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
LXX Leviticus 20:9
Septuagint
7 And you shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. 8 And you shall observe my ordinances, and do them: I am the Lord that sanctifies you. 9 Every man who shall speak evil of his father or of his mother, let him die the death; has he spoken evil of his father or his mother? he shall be guilty. 10 Whatever man shall commit adultery with the wife of a man, or whoever shall commit adultery with the wife of his neighbor, let them die the death, the adulterer and the adulteress.
Date: 300–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Deuteronomy 5:16
Septuagint
15 And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand, and a high arm: therefore the Lord your God appointed you to keep the sabbath day and to sanctify it. 16 Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you; that it may be well with you, and that you may live long upon the land, which the Lord your God gives you. 17 You shall not commit adultery.
Date: 300–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Mark 7:10
New Testament
9 He also said to them, “You neatly reject the commandment of God in order to set up your tradition. 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.’ 11 But you say that if anyone tells his father or mother, ‘Whatever help you would have received from me is corban’ (that is, a gift for God), 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother.
Date: 60–75 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Despite the fact that the book of Leviticus is not frequently quoted among those from the Pentateuch by Mark, Matthew and the Lukan writings, at least one clear allusion and five explicit quotations from Leviticus are to be found in the Synoptic Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles ... Besides the quotation of the 5th commandment from LXX Deuteronomy 5:16 in Mark 7:10, the author of Mark’s gospel links it with καί to a second quotation in Mark 7:10. The gospel of Matthew utilizes the same Markan material and links the quotation of the 5th commandment from LXX Exodus 20:12 / Deuteronomy 5:16 in Matthew 15:4 to Mark’s second quotation in Matthew 15:4. Whereas the first quotation is a statement which expresses a positive command (τίμα), the second quotation is a statement which expresses a negative command and contains the punishment when the first is not executed or violated (θανάτῳ τελευτάτω). But the textual origin of this second quotation which “Moses said” (Mark 7:10; Matt 15:4), is unclear. There seem, however, to be two possibilities that closely resemble the wording of the quotation in Mark and Matthew, namely Exodus 21:15 / Leviticus 20:9, 56 on the one hand, and Exodus 21:16, on the other hand. The last possibility seems to be more likely and matches the wording the closest. Especially three striking differences between the versions of LXX Leviticus 20:9 / Exodus 21:15 and 21:16 are pointing in this direction ..."
Gert J. Steyn, “The Text Form of the Leviticus Quotations in the Synoptic Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles,” in The Text of Leviticus: Proceedings of the Third International Colloquium of the Dominique Barthélemy Institute, ed. Innocent Himbaza (Leuven: Peeters, 2020), 205–242.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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