Chapter 12

Picking Grain on the Sabbath. ^1 [a]At that time Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath.^(A) His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads^[b] of grain and eat them.^{(B) 2} When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath.” ³ He said to them,^[c] “Have you not read what David^(C) did when he and his companions were hungry, ⁴ how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering,^(D) which neither he nor his companions but only the priests could lawfully eat? ^5 [d]Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath and are innocent?^{(E) 6} I say to you, something greater than the temple is here. ^7 [e]If you knew what this meant, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’^(F) you would not have condemned these innocent men. ^8 [f](G)For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.”

²³ As he was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain.^{(A) 24} At this the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?”^{(B) 25} He said to them, “Have you never read what David did^[a] when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry? ²⁶ How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat, and shared it with his companions?”^{(C) 27} Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for man,^[b] not man for the sabbath.^{(D) 28 [c]}That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”