²⁵ Then Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. ^26 (A)Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be ^[a]none.”

²⁷ Yet it came about on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. ²⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses, “^(B)How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My ^[b]instructions?

⁸ “Remember ^(A)the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; on it ^(A)you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male slave or your female slave, or your cattle, or your ^[a]resident who ^[b]stays with you.

Sabbath Restored

¹⁵ In those days I saw in Judah people who were treading wine presses ^(A)on the Sabbath, and bringing in sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs, and every kind of load, ^(B)and they were bringing them into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So ^(C)I admonished them on the day they sold food. ¹⁶ Also people of Tyre were living ^[a]there who imported fish and all kinds of merchandise, and sold them to the sons of Judah on the Sabbath, even in Jerusalem. ¹⁷ Then ^(D)I ^[b]reprimanded the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, ^[c]by profaning the Sabbath day? ^18 (E)Did your fathers not do the same, so that our God brought on us and on this city all this trouble? Yet you are adding to the wrath against Israel by profaning the Sabbath.”

¹⁹ And ^(F)it came about that just as it became dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered that the doors be shut, ^[d]and that they were not to open them until after the Sabbath. Then I stationed some of my servants at the gates so that no load would enter on the Sabbath day. ²⁰ Once or twice the traders and merchants of every kind of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem. ²¹ Then ^(G)I warned them and said to them, “Why do you spend the night in front of the wall? If you do so again, I will ^[e]use force against you.” From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath. ²² And I ordered the Levites that ^(H)they were to purify themselves and come as gatekeepers to sanctify the Sabbath day. For this also ^(I)remember me, my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Your mercy.

Praise for the Lord’s Goodness.

A Psalm, a Song for the Sabbath day.

Sabbath Questions

12 ^[a](A)At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to ^(B)pick the heads of grain and eat. ² Now when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what ^(C)is not lawful to do on a Sabbath!” ³ But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions— ⁴ how he entered the house of God, and ^(D)they ate the ^[b]consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? ⁵ Or have you not read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple ^[c]violate the Sabbath, and yet are innocent? ⁶ But I say to you that something ^(E)greater than the temple is here. ⁷ But if you had known what this ^[d]means: ‘^(F)I desire ^[e]compassion, ^[f]rather than sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned ^[g]the innocent.

Lord of the Sabbath

⁸ For ^(G)the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

^9 (H)Departing from there, He went into their synagogue. ¹⁰ And a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned ^[h]Jesus, asking, “^(I)Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might bring charges against Him. ¹¹ But He said to them, “^(J)What man ^[i]is there among you who ^[j]has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? ^12 (K)How much more valuable then is a person than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do ^[k]good on the Sabbath.” ¹³ Then He *said to the man, “Stretch out your hand!” ^(L)He stretched it out, and it was restored to ^[l]normal, like the other.

¹⁶ And He came to ^(A)Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, ^(B)He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and ^(C)stood up to read.