Matthew 12:1-13 ▼

1 At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on a Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pick heads of wheat and eat them.

2 But when the Pharisees saw this they said to him, |Look, your disciples are doing what is against the law to do on the Sabbath.|

3 He said to them, |Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry--

4 how he entered the house of God and they ate the sacred bread, which was against the law for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests?

5 Or have you not read in the law that the priests in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are not guilty?

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

7 If you had known what this means: 'I want mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent.

8 For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.|

9 Then Jesus left that place and entered their synagogue.

10 A man was there who had a withered hand. And they asked Jesus, |Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?| so that they could accuse him.

11 He said to them, |Would not any one of you, if he had one sheep that fell into a pit on the Sabbath, take hold of it and lift it out?

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

13 Then he said to the man, |Stretch out your hand.| He stretched it out and it was restored, as healthy as the other.