Matthew 12 (New American Standard)

Sabbath Questions

1 ¹At that ^atime Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to ²pick the heads of grain and eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples do what ³is not lawful to do on a Sabbath." 3 But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions , 4 how he entered the house of God, and ⁴they ate the ^bconsecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone ? 5 "Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple ^cbreak the Sabbath and are innocent ? 6 "But I say to you that something ⁵greater than the temple is here. 7 "But if you had known what this ^dmeans, '⁶I DESIRE ^eCOMPASSION, AND NOT A SACRIFICE,' you would not have condemned the innocent.

Lord of the Sabbath

8 "For ⁷the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." 9 ⁸Departing from there, He went into their synagogue. 10 And a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned ^fJesus, asking, "⁹Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath ?"-so that they might accuse Him. 11 And He said to them, "¹⁰What man ^gis there among you who ^hhas a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 "¹¹How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep ! So then, it is lawful to do ⁱgood on the Sabbath." 13 Then He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand !" ¹²He stretched it out, and it was restored to ^jnormal, like the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and ^k13conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him. 15 But Jesus, ^laware of this, withdrew from there. Many followed Him, and ¹⁴He healed them all, 16 and ¹⁵warned them not to ^mtell who He was. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet : 18 "¹⁶BEHOLD, MY ⁿSERVANT WHOM I ^oHAVE CHOSEN ; ¹⁷MY BELOVED IN WHOM MY SOUL ^p is WELL-PLEASED; ¹⁸ I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT UPON HIM, ¹⁹ AND HE SHALL PROCLAIM^q JUSTICE TO THE ^r GENTILES. 19 "²⁰HE WILL NOT QUARREL, NOR CRY OUT; NOR WILL ANYONE HEAR HIS VOICE IN THE STREETS. 20 "²¹A BATTERED REED HE WILL NOT BREAK OFF, AND A SMOLDERING WICK HE WILL NOT PUT OUT, UNTIL HE ^sLEADS ^tJUSTICE TO VICTORY. 21 "²²AND IN HIS NAME THE ^uGENTILES WILL HOPE."

The Pharisees Rebuked

22 ²³Then a ²⁴demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to ^vJesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw. 23 All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, "This man cannot be the ²⁵Son of David, can he?" 24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "This man ²⁶casts out demons only by ^wBeelzebul the ruler of the demons." 25 ²⁷And ²⁸knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them, "^xAny kingdom divided against itself is laid waste ; and ^yany city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26 "If ²⁹Satan casts out Satan, he ^zis divided against himself ; how then will his kingdom stand ? 27 "If I ³⁰by ^aaBeelzebul cast out demons, ³¹by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. 28 "But ³²if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 "Or how can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.

The Unpardonable Sin

30 "³³He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters. 31 "³⁴Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. 32 "³⁵Whoever ^bbspeaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever ^ccspeaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in ³⁶this age or in the age to come.

Words Reveal Character

33 "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad ; for ³⁷the tree is known by its fruit. 34 "³⁸You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak ^ddwhat is good ? ³⁹For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. 35 "⁴⁰The good man brings out of his good treasure ^eewhat is good ; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure ^ffwhat is evil. 36 "But I tell you that every ^ggcareless word that people ^hhspeak, they shall give an accounting for it in ⁴¹the day of judgment. 37 "For ⁱⁱby your words you will be justified, and ^jjby your words you will be condemned."

The Desire for Signs

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, "Teacher, ⁴²we want to see a ^kksign from You." 39 But He answered and said to them, "⁴³An evil and adulterous generation craves for a ^llsign ; and yet no ^mmsign will be given to it but the ⁿⁿsign of Jonah the prophet ; 40 for just as ⁴⁴JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will ⁴⁵the Son of Man be ⁴⁶three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 "⁴⁷The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because ⁴⁸they repented at the preaching of Jonah ; and behold, ⁴⁹something greater than Jonah is here. 42 "⁵⁰The Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon ; and behold, ⁵¹something greater than Solomon is here. 43 "⁵²Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. 44 "Then it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came '; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. 45 "Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there ; and ⁵³the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation."

Changed Relationships

46 ⁵⁴While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His ⁵⁵mother and ⁵⁶brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. 47 Someone said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You."^oo 48 But ^ppJesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, "Who is My mother and who are My brothers ?" 49 And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, "Behold My mother and My brothers ! 50 "For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother."