The Question about the Sabbath

6 One Sabbath^[a] while Jesus^[b] was going through some grain fields, his disciples plucked some heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands, and ate them.^{(A) 2} But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful^[c] on the Sabbath?”^{(B) 3} Jesus answered, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?^{(C) 4} How he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and gave some to his companions?”^{(D) 5} Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

The Man with a Withered Hand

⁶ On another Sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered.^{(E) 7} The scribes and the Pharisees were watching him to see whether he would cure on the Sabbath, so that they might find grounds to bring an accusation against him. ⁸ But he knew what they were thinking, and he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come and stand in the middle.” He got up and stood there.^{(F) 9} Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?” ¹⁰ After looking around at all of them, he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was restored. ¹¹ But they were filled with fury and began discussing with one another what they might do to Jesus.

Jesus Chooses the Twelve Apostles

¹² Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God.^{(G) 13} And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles:^{(H) 14} Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, ¹⁵ and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, ¹⁶ and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.^(I)

Jesus Teaches and Heals

¹⁷ He came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon.^{(J) 18} They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. ¹⁹ And everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.^(K)

Blessings and Woes

²⁰ Then he looked up at his disciples and said:

²² “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you^[d] on account of the Son of Man.^{(M) 23} Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven, for that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.^(N)

²⁶ “Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.^(Q)