Matthew 12:1-12

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them.

2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”

3 He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?

4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests.

5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent?

6 I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.

7 If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’^[a] you would not have condemned the innocent.

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

9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue,

10 and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

11 He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?

12 How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

Cross References

• 1. Deuteronomy 23:25
• 2. ver 10; Exodus 20:10; Exodus 23:12; Deuteronomy 5:14; Luke 13:14; Luke 14:3; John 5:10; John 7:23; John 9:16
• 3. 1 Samuel 21:6
• 4. Leviticus 24:5,9
• 5. Numbers 28:9,10; John 7:22,23
• 6. ver 41,42
• 7. Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:6-8; Matthew 9:13
• 8. S Matthew 8:20
• 9. Mark 3:2; Mark 12:13; Luke 11:54; Luke 14:1; Luke 20:20
• 10. S ver 2; Luke 13:14; Luke 14:3; John 9:16
• 11. Luke 14:5
• 12. Matthew 6:26; Matthew 10:31

Footnotes

• [a]. Hosea 6:6