Matthew 12:1-8

Good News Translation

The Question about the Sabbath^(A)

12 ^(B)Not long afterward Jesus was walking through some wheat fields on a Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, so they began to pick heads of wheat and eat the grain. ² When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Jesus, “Look, it is against our Law for your disciples to do this on the Sabbath!”

^3 (C)Jesus answered, “Have you never read what David did that time when he and his men were hungry? ^4 (D)He went into the house of God, and he and his men ate the bread offered to God, even though it was against the Law for them to eat it—only the priests were allowed to eat that bread. ^5 (E)Or have you not read in the Law of Moses that every Sabbath the priests in the Temple actually break the Sabbath law, yet they are not guilty? ⁶ I tell you that there is something here greater than the Temple. ^7 (F)The scripture says, ‘It is kindness that I want, not animal sacrifices.’ If you really knew what this means, you would not condemn people who are not guilty; ⁸ for the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”