²⁵ “When you come into the standing grain of your neighbor, you may ^[a]pluck the ears of grain with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor’s standing grain [to harvest it].

Sabbath Questions

12 At that particular time Jesus went through the grainfields on the ^[a]Sabbath, and His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them.^{(A) 2} But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what ^[b]is unlawful on the Sabbath.”^{(B) 3} He said to them, “Have you not read [in the Scriptures] what David did when he was hungry, he and those who accompanied him—^{(C) 4} how he went into the house of God, and they ate the ^[c]consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests only? ⁵ Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break [the sanctity of] the Sabbath and yet are innocent?^{(D) 6} But I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. ⁷ And if you had only known what this statement means, ‘I desire compassion [for those in distress], ^[d]and not [animal] sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.^(E)

Lord of the Sabbath

⁸ For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Question of the Sabbath

²³ One Sabbath He was walking along [with His disciples] through the grainfields, and as they went along, His disciples began picking the heads of grain.^{(A) 24} The Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why are they doing what ^[a]is unlawful on the Sabbath?” ²⁵ Jesus said to them, “Have you never read [in the Scriptures] what David did when he was in need and was hungry, he and his companions;^{(B) 26} how he went into the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the sacred bread, which is not lawful for anyone but the priests to eat, and how he also gave it to the men who were with him?”^{(C) 27} Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.^{(D) 28} So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath [and He has authority over it].”