27 · Words and actions of Jesus

The Syrophoenician Woman

Mark 7:24–30

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Jesus speaks with an adult Syrophoenician woman inside a house as she appeals to him with determination and respect.

A Syrophoenician woman asks Jesus to deliver her daughter.

Why speak of the children's bread and the dogs?

Choose a perspective

There is no score – choose the perspective you find closest and discuss why.

Discuss: What do you think Jesus sees in the woman's answer?

After your discussion: compare with our assessment

Our assessment

A takes the word “first” seriously. Jesus' image contains an order: the children are to be satisfied first. It is therefore more cautious to speak of priority than to read the words as an explicit permanent exclusion. C closely follows the movement of the dialogue. The woman does not argue that the children should lose their bread. She finds a possibility within Jesus' own image: the dogs under the table can receive crumbs while the children eat. Jesus responds positively to her words, and her daughter is delivered.

27 · Mark 7:24–30

Go deeper

Text & context

Full translation

24 From there he got up and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it, but he could not remain hidden. 25 Immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him. She came and fell at his feet. 26 The woman was Greek, Syrophoenician by birth. She kept asking him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 He said to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.” 29 Then he said to her, “Because of this word, go. The demon has left your daughter.” 30 She went home and found the child lying on the bed and the demon gone.

Translated from the Greek text – SBLGNT

What is happening here?
Jesus leaves Galilee and goes to the region of Tyre. There a woman whom Mark describes as Greek and Syrophoenician by birth comes to him. She falls at his feet and asks him to cast a demon out of her daughter. Jesus responds with an image: the children should first be satisfied, and it is not right to take their bread and throw it to the dogs. The woman does not reject the image. She answers within it: even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs. Jesus explicitly refers to her response – “because of this word” – and tells her that the demon has left her daughter. When she returns home, she finds that it has happened. Mark does not explicitly explain every element of Jesus' metaphor or exactly why he chooses this wording.
Notice this

One of the smallest words in the story may be one of the most important: “first.” Jesus does not say “Only the children may eat.” He says “Let the children be satisfied first.” The woman also does not demand that the children's bread be taken away. She finds a place for her appeal inside Jesus' own image: “even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.” And Jesus explicitly responds: “Because of this word, go.”

Language & translation

From the Greek

πρῶτον – prōton

first A small but important word. Jesus says the children are to be satisfied first, expressing an order or priority.

τὰ τέκνα – ta tekna

the children Teknon means child. In the imagery, the children receive the bread first.

κυνάρια – kynaria

dogs / little dogs A diminutive form of kyōn, dog. It can refer to small dogs or household dogs. The image explicitly places them “under the table.” The diminutive should not be used to make Jesus' statement harmless or sentimental. The imagery remains sharp.

ψιχίων – psichiōn

crumbs The woman does not ask for the children's entire bread. Her response depends on crumbs reaching the dogs under the table.

διὰ τοῦτον τὸν λόγον – dia touton ton logon

because of this word / answer Jesus explicitly refers to what the woman has said. Logos can here be rendered word, statement, or answer.

ἐξελήλυθεν – exelēlythen

has gone out / has left Jesus says the demon has already left the daughter. The deliverance occurs at a distance.

Translation note

Independent English translation from the Greek text, using SBLGNT as the primary Greek edition.

Compare for yourself

Read Mark 7:24–30 together with Matthew 15:21–28. Pay particular attention to:

  • prōton
  • tekna
  • kynaria
  • psichia
  • dia touton ton logon
  • how the woman's identity is described
  • what Jesus says about her response

Matthew's version contains more dialogue and describes the woman as Canaanite. Compare what the different details contribute to the scene.

Continue the conversation

Discuss further
  1. How does the word “first” affect Jesus' image?
  2. Does the woman accept Jesus' image, challenge it – or do both at once?
  3. Why do you think Jesus explicitly refers to her answer when helping her daughter?
  4. How should we handle a saying of Jesus that feels morally or emotionally uncomfortable without either softening it or adding claims the text does not make?
Parallel passages
  • Matthew 15:21–28
  • Mark 7:31–37
  • Mark 8:1–10
Sources
  • The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition (SBLGNT), Michael W. Holmes, ed.
  • Mark 7:24–30
  • Matthew 15:21–28
  • Standard Greek lexical resources for prōtos, teknon, kynarion, psichion, logos, and exerchomai