Matthew 12:1-8

New King James Version

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath^(A)

12 At that time ^(B)Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to ^(C)pluck heads of grain and to eat. ² And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”

³ But He said to them, “Have you not read ^(D)what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: ⁴ how he entered the house of God and ate ^(E)the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, ^(F)but only for the priests? ⁵ Or have you not read in the ^(G)law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple ^[a]profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? ⁶ Yet I say to you that in this place there is ^(H)One greater than the temple. ⁷ But if you had known what this means, ^(I)‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. ⁸ For the Son of Man is Lord ^[b]even of the Sabbath.”