Matthew 12:1-17

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Plucking Grain on the Sabbath

12 At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.^{(A) 2} When the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”^{(B) 3} He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?^{(C) 4} How he entered the house of God, and they^[a] ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests?^{(D) 5} Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and yet are guiltless?^{(E) 6} I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.^{(F) 7} But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.^{(G) 8} For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

The Man with a Withered Hand

⁹ He left that place and entered their synagogue; ¹⁰ a man was there with a withered hand, and they asked him, “Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath?” so that they might accuse him.^{(H) 11} He said to them, “Suppose one of you has only one sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath; will you not lay hold of it and lift it out?^{(I) 12} How much more valuable is a human being than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”^{(J) 13} Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and it was restored, as sound as the other. ¹⁴ But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.^(K)

God’s Chosen Servant

¹⁵ When Jesus became aware of this, he departed. Many^[b] followed him, and he cured all of them,^{(L) 16} and he ordered them not to make him known.^{(M) 17} This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah: