Mark 2:18-28

Listen to Mark 2:18-28

A Question About Fasting

18 Now 1John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, 2"Why do John's disciples and 3the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?"
19 And Jesus said to them, 4"Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.
20 5The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and 6then they will fast in that day.
21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.
22 And no one puts new wine into old 7wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins--and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins."[a]

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

23 8One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples 9began to pluck heads of grain.
24 And the Pharisees were saying to him, "Look, 10why are they doing 11what is not lawful on the Sabbath?"
25 And he said to them, 12"Have you never read 13what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him:
26 how he entered the house of God, in the time of 14Abiathar the high priest, and ate 15the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?"
27 And he said to them, 16"The Sabbath was made for man, 17not man for the Sabbath.
28 So 18the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath."

Cross References 18

  • 1. Matthew 11:2; John 4:12">1John 4:12; Luke 11:1; John 1:35; John 3:25; John 4:1; [Acts 18:25; Acts 19:3]
  • 2. [Mark 7:5]
  • 3. Luke 18:12
  • 4. John 3:29
  • 5. See Luke 17:22
  • 6. [John 16:20]
  • 7. Joshua 9:4
  • 8. For ver. 23-28, see Matthew 12:1-8; Luke 6:1-5
  • 9. Deuteronomy 23:25
  • 10. [Matthew 9:11]
  • 11. [Exodus 20:9-11]
  • 12. See Matthew 21:16
  • 13. 1 Samuel 21:1-6
  • 14. 1 Chronicles 24:6; [1 Samuel 21:1; 2 Samuel 8:17]
  • 15. Exodus 25:30; Leviticus 24:5-9
  • 16. Exodus 23:12; Deuteronomy 5:14
  • 17. Colossians 2:16
  • 18. [ver. 10]

Footnotes 1

  • [a] Some manuscripts omit But new wine is for fresh wineskins
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.