Matthew 12:1-13

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.”

13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other.

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