馬太福音 12
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Traditional)
安息日的問題
12 那時，耶穌在安息日經過一片麥田。祂的門徒餓了，便隨手搓麥穗吃。 2 法利賽人看見後，對耶穌說：「你看，你的門徒做了在安息日不准做的事！」
3 耶穌回答說：「你們沒有讀過大衛的事蹟嗎？當時他和部下餓了， 4 進入上帝的殿，吃了獻給上帝的供餅。這餅只有祭司才可以吃，大衛和部下是不准吃的。 5 此外律法書又記載，安息日，祭司在聖殿裡觸犯了守安息日的規條也不算有罪。你們沒有讀過嗎？ 6 我告訴你們，這裡有一人比聖殿更偉大， 7 如果你們明白『我喜愛憐憫之心，而非祭物』這句經文的意義，就不會冤枉無辜了。 8 因為人子是安息日的主。」
9 耶穌離開那裡，走進會堂， 10 裡面有個人，一隻手是萎縮的。法利賽人企圖找藉口控告耶穌，就問祂：「安息日可不可以醫病呢？」
11 耶穌回答說：「如果你們有一隻羊在安息日掉進坑裡，難道你們不把牠拉上來嗎？ 12 人比羊要貴重多了！所以在安息日行善合情合理。」
13 於是，耶穌轉過身來對那人說：「把手伸出來！」那人一伸手，手就復原了，跟另一隻手一樣健康。 14 法利賽人卻走了出去，策劃怎樣除掉耶穌。
上帝的僕人
15 耶穌知道了，就離開那個地方。很多人跟隨祂，耶穌醫好了其中所有患病的人， 16 吩咐他們不要洩露祂的身分。 17 這是要應驗以賽亞先知的話：
18 「看啊！我所揀選、
所眷愛、所喜悅的僕人，
我要將我的靈賜給祂，
祂要向萬邦宣揚正義。
19 祂不爭競，不喧嚷，
街上也聽不見祂的聲音。
20 壓傷的蘆葦，祂不折斷；
將殘的燈火，祂不吹滅；
祂終必使正義得勝。
21 普世都要仰望祂的聖名。」
22 有人帶一個被鬼附身、又瞎又啞的人來見耶穌，耶穌便醫好他，使他能說能看。 23 眾人都很驚奇，就說：「這人會不會是大衛的那個後裔？」 24 法利賽人聽見後卻說：「祂不過是靠鬼王別西卜趕鬼罷了。」
25 耶穌知道他們的心思，就說：「一個國內部自相紛爭，必然滅亡；一座城、一個家內部自相紛爭，必然崩潰。 26 若撒旦驅逐撒旦，就是自相紛爭，牠的國怎能維持呢？ 27 若我是靠別西卜趕鬼，你們的子弟又是靠誰趕鬼呢？為此，他們要審判你們。 28 若我是靠上帝的靈趕鬼，就是上帝的國已降臨在你們中間了。
29 「人如何進入壯漢家中搶奪他的財物呢？除非先把那壯漢捆綁起來，才有可能搶劫他的家。
30 「不與我為友就是與我為敵；不助我召集就是故意拆散。 31 所以我告訴你們，一切的罪和褻瀆的話都可以得到赦免，但褻瀆聖靈的罪必得不到赦免。 32 說話得罪人子的，還可以得到赦免；但那些說話冒犯聖靈的，今生永世都得不到赦免。
樹與果
33 「好樹結好果子，壞樹結壞果子，看果子就能知道樹的好壞。 34 你們這些毒蛇的後代！你們心裡邪惡，又怎能講出好話呢？因為心裡充滿的，口裡自然會說出來。 35 善人心存良善，就從他裡面發出良善；惡人心存邪惡，就從他裡面發出邪惡。 36 我告訴你們，在審判之日，人將為自己所說的每一句閒話負責， 37 因為將來要憑你口中的話來判斷你是否有罪。」
求神蹟
38 當時，有幾個律法教師和法利賽人對耶穌說：「老師，我們想要看你行個神蹟。」 39 耶穌回答說：「一個邪惡淫亂的世代想看神蹟，可是除了約拿先知的神蹟以外，再沒有神蹟給他們看。 40 約拿在大魚腹中三日三夜，人子也要在地裡三日三夜。 41 在審判的日子，尼尼微人和這世代的人都要起來[a]，尼尼微人要定這個世代的罪，因為他們聽到約拿的宣告，就悔改了。看啊！這裡有一人比約拿更偉大。 42 在審判的日子，南方的女王和這世代的人都要起來，她要定這個世代的罪，因為她曾不遠千里來聽所羅門王的智言慧語。看啊！這裡有一人比所羅門王更偉大。
乘虛而入
43 「有一個污鬼離開了牠以前所附的人，在乾旱無水之地四處遊蕩，尋找安歇之處，卻沒有找到。 44 於是牠說，『我要回到老地方。』牠回去後，看見裡面空著，打掃得又乾淨又整齊， 45 就去帶來了七個比自己更邪惡的鬼一起住在那裡。那人的下場比從前更慘了。這個邪惡的世代也會這樣。」
真正的親屬
46 耶穌還在和眾人說話的時候，祂的母親和兄弟站在外面，想要跟祂說話。 47 有人告訴祂：「你的母親和兄弟在外面有話要跟你說。」
48 耶穌說：「誰是我的母親？誰是我的兄弟？」 49 祂伸出手來指著門徒說：「你們看！這些人就是我的母親和我的兄弟。 50 凡遵行我天父旨意的人都是我的弟兄、姊妹和母親。」
Footnotes
- 12·41 「起來」或作「復活」。
Matthew 12
Common English Bible
Working on the Sabbath
12 At that time Jesus went through the wheat fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry so they were picking heads of wheat and eating them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are breaking the Sabbath law.”
3 But he said to them, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and those with him were hungry? 4 He went into God’s house and broke the law by eating the bread of the presence, which only the priests were allowed to eat. 5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple treat the Sabbath as any other day and are still innocent? 6 But 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,[a] you wouldn’t have condemned the innocent. 8 The Human One[b] is Lord of the Sabbath.”
Healing on the Sabbath
9 Jesus left that place and went into their synagogue. 10 A man with a withered hand was there. Wanting to bring charges against Jesus, they asked, “Does the Law allow a person to heal on the Sabbath?”
11 Jesus replied, “Who among you has a sheep that falls into a pit on the Sabbath and will not take hold of it and pull it out? 12 How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! So the Law allows a person to do what is good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he did and it was made healthy, just like the other one. 14 The Pharisees went out and met in order to find a way to destroy Jesus.
Healing the crowd
15 Jesus knew what they intended to do, so he went away from there. Large crowds followed him, and he healed them all. 16 But he ordered them not to spread the word about him, 17 so that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled:
18 Look, my Servant whom I chose,
the one I love, in whom I find great pleasure.
I’ll put my Spirit upon him,
and he’ll announce judgment to the Gentiles.
19 He won’t argue or shout,
and nobody will hear his voice in the streets.
20 He won’t break a bent stalk,
and he won’t snuff out a smoldering wick,
until he makes justice win.
21 And the Gentiles will put their hope in his name.[c]
22 They brought to Jesus a demon-possessed man who was blind and unable to speak. Jesus healed him so that he could both speak and see. 23 All the crowds were amazed and said, “This man couldn’t be the Son of David, could he?”
24 When the Pharisees heard, they said, “This man throws out demons only by the authority of Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.”
25 Because Jesus knew what they were thinking, he replied, “Every kingdom involved in civil war becomes a wasteland. Every city or house torn apart by divisions will collapse. 26 If Satan throws out Satan, he is at war with himself. How then can his kingdom endure? 27 And if I throw out demons by the authority of Beelzebul, then by whose authority do your followers throw them out? Therefore, they will be your judges. 28 But if I throw out demons by the power of God’s Spirit, then God’s kingdom has already overtaken you. 29 Can people go into a house that belongs to a strong man and steal his possessions, unless they first tie up the strong man? Then they can rob his house. 30 Whoever isn’t with me is against me, and whoever doesn’t gather with me scatters.
Insulting the Holy Spirit
31 “Therefore, I tell you that people will be forgiven for every sin and insult to God. But insulting the Holy Spirit won’t be forgiven. 32 And whoever speaks a word against the Human One[d] will be forgiven. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit won’t be forgiven, not in this age or in the age that is coming.
Trees and fruits
33 “Either consider the tree good and its fruit good, or consider the tree rotten and its fruit rotten. A tree is known by its fruit. 34 Children of snakes! How can you speak good things while you are evil? What fills the heart comes out of the mouth. 35 Good people bring out good things from their good treasure. But evil people bring out evil things from their evil treasure. 36 I tell you that people will have to answer on Judgment Day for every useless word they speak. 37 By your words you will be either judged innocent or condemned as guilty.”
Request for a sign
38 At that time some of the legal experts and the Pharisees requested of Jesus, “Teacher, we would like to see a sign from you.”
39 But he replied, “An evil and unfaithful generation searches for a sign, but it won’t receive any sign except Jonah’s sign. 40 Just as Jonah was in the whale’s belly for three days and three nights,[e] so the Human One[f] will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. 41 The citizens of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it as guilty, because they changed their hearts and lives in response to Jonah’s preaching. And look, someone greater than Jonah is here. 42 The queen of the South will be raised up by God at the judgment with this generation and condemn it because she came from a distant land to hear Solomon’s wisdom. And look, someone greater than Solomon is here.
Unclean spirit seeking a home
43 “When an unclean spirit leaves a person, it wanders through dry places looking for a place to rest. But it doesn’t find any. 44 Then it says, ‘I’ll go back to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the place vacant, cleaned up, and decorated. 45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself. They go in and make their home there. That person is worse off at the end than at the beginning. This is the way it will be also for this evil generation.”
Jesus’ family
46 While Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and brothers stood outside trying to speak with him. 47 Someone said to him, “Look, your mother and brothers are outside wanting to speak with you.”
48 Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” 49 He stretched out his hand toward his disciples and said, “Look, here are my mother and my brothers. 50 Whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven is my brother, sister, and mother.”
Footnotes
- Matthew 12:7 Hos 6:6
- Matthew 12:8 Or Son of Man
- Matthew 12:21 Isa 42:1-4
- Matthew 12:32 Or Son of Man
- Matthew 12:40 Jonah 1:17
- Matthew 12:40 Or Son of Man
Matthew 12
EasyEnglish Bible
The Pharisees watch what Jesus does on the day of rest
12 On a Jewish day of rest, Jesus was walking through some fields where wheat was growing. His disciples were hungry. So they began to pick some of the grains of wheat. They began to eat them. 2 While the disciples were picking the grains, some Pharisees saw them. They said to Jesus, ‘Look at what your disciples are doing! It is against God's Law to do that on our day of rest.’
3 Jesus replied, ‘You have certainly read about what David did one day. He and the men who were with him were hungry. 4 David went into the temple. He ate the special bread that was there. He also gave some of it to his men to eat as well. But it is against God's Law for anyone except the priests to eat that special bread.[a]
5 Also, you certainly know what God's Law says about the priests. They work in the temple, even on the day of rest. They have not obeyed the Law about the day of rest. But God's Law tells us that they have not done anything that is wrong. 6 But I tell you this. There is someone here now who has greater authority even than the temple. 7 You should understand what the Bible teaches. God says there, “I want people to be kind to each other. I do not just want them to offer sacrifices to me.” If you had understood this, then you would not have said to me, “Your disciples are doing something wrong.” 8 The Son of Man has authority over the Law about the day of rest.’
9 Then Jesus left that place. He went into the Jewish meeting place. 10 A man was there. His hand was very small and weak, so he could not use it. Some Pharisees asked Jesus, ‘Is it right to make someone well again on our day of rest?’ They wanted to find a reason to say that Jesus was doing wrong things.
11 Jesus said to them, ‘Maybe one of you has a sheep that falls into a deep hole on our day of rest. What will you do? You will take hold of it and you will lift it out of the hole. 12 You know that a man is much more valuable than a sheep. So it is right for us to do good things on our day of rest.’
13 Then Jesus said to the man with the weak hand, ‘Lift up your hand.’ So the man lifted up his hand and it became well again. It was now as strong as his other hand. 14 Then the Pharisees went out from the meeting place. They began to talk to each other about how they could kill Jesus.
God chose Jesus to do an important job
15 Jesus knew that the Pharisees wanted to kill him. So he went away from that place. A large crowd of people followed him. He made all the sick people become well again. 16 He said to these people, ‘You must not tell anyone about me.’ 17 This happened so that what the prophet Isaiah had spoken long ago became true. Isaiah wrote what God said:
18 ‘Here is my servant.
I have chosen him to serve me.
I love him and he makes me very happy.
I will give him the strength of my Spirit.
He will tell all the nations that I will judge them fairly.
19 He will not argue with people. He will not shout at them.
People will not hear his loud voice in the streets.
20 He will not hurt weak people.
He will be kind to people who are not strong.
He will do this until there is justice everywhere.
21 All the nations will trust him to save them.’
Jesus talks about Satan
22 After that, some people brought a man to Jesus. The man had a bad spirit in him. Because of this, he was blind and he could not speak. Jesus caused the man to become well again. The man could speak again and he could see. 23 When Jesus did this, all the people were very surprised. They asked each other, ‘Maybe this man is the Son of David that God will send to us. Could that be true?’
24 The Pharisees also heard about what had happened. They said, ‘This man can send bad spirits out of people only because Beelzebul gives him authority.[b] That is Satan, the one who rules all the bad spirits.’
25 Jesus knew what the Pharisees were thinking. So he said to them, ‘If armies in a country fight each other, then they will destroy their own country. If people in one city or in one family fight each other, then they will destroy their own city or family. 26 So Satan would not try to destroy himself. If Satan fights against himself, that would be the end of his own kingdom. 27 Some of your disciples can also send bad spirits out of people. You would not say that it is Satan's power that helps them. So your own disciples show that you are wrong about this. 28 I do send bad spirits out of people. I use the authority of God's Holy Spirit to do this. This shows that God has come to rule among you.
29 Nobody can go easily into the house of a strong man to rob him. To do that, he must first tie up the strong man. Then he can take away all that man's valuable things.[c]
30 If someone does not agree to help me, he is working against me. You should work with me to bring people to me for help. If you do not do that, you are really making people run away from me. 31 God is able to forgive all the wrong things that people do, and the bad things that they say against other people. But God will never forgive people who say bad things against the Holy Spirit. 32 God will forgive people who say bad things against me, the Son of Man. But God will never forgive people who say bad things against the Holy Spirit.’ He will not forgive them now or ever.[d]
Jesus talks about a tree and its fruit
33 Then Jesus said, ‘To have good fruit you must have a good tree. If you have a bad tree, then you will get bad fruit from it. You can know all about a tree by the kind of fruit that it makes. 34 You are like the children of dangerous snakes. You cannot say good things when your thoughts are bad. When you speak, your words show what is in your mind. 35 It is like things that you bring out of a room where you keep them. The good man says good things because he keeps good thoughts in his mind. The bad man says bad things because he keeps bad thoughts in his mind. 36 I tell you this: One day, God will judge everybody. On that day, he will ask you about every useless word that you have spoken. 37 God will think about the words that you have spoken. Then he will decide whether to let you go free or to punish you.’
The Pharisees want to see Jesus do something powerful
38 Then some teachers of God's Law and some Pharisees said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, we want to see you do something powerful. This will show us that God has really sent you.’
39 Jesus replied, ‘The people who are alive today are very bad. They do not obey God, but they want God to show them something powerful. But God will not do this for them. They will only see the same powerful thing that God did for his prophet Jonah. 40 Jonah stayed inside a big fish for three days and three nights.[e] In the same way, the Son of Man will remain in the ground for three days and three nights. 41 When God judges everyone, the people who lived in Nineveh will be there. They will stand up and they will speak against you. They will show that the people who are alive today are bad. When Jonah spoke to the people in Nineveh long ago, they stopped doing bad things. But look! There is someone here now who is greater than Jonah was.
42 Also, the Queen of Sheba travelled a long way to meet King Solomon. She wanted to hear his wise words. When God judges everyone, she will stand up. She will speak against you who are alive today. She will show that you are bad people. She listened to King Solomon. But look! There is someone here now who is greater than Solomon was. But you are not listening to me.’[f]
43 Jesus then said, ‘When a bad spirit leaves a person, it travels through dry places. It looks for a new place to live. But maybe it does not find anywhere. 44 So it says to itself, “I will return to the place where I lived before.” Then it goes back to that person. It finds that the place is empty. Everything there is now good and clean. 45 So the bad spirit goes out and it brings back seven other spirits. They are even worse than itself. They all go into the person and they live there. Now the person's life is even worse than it was before. The same thing will happen to you bad people who are alive today.’[g]
Jesus speaks about his family
46 While Jesus was still speaking to the crowd of people, his mother and his brothers arrived. They stood outside the house. They wanted to speak to Jesus. 47 Someone told him, ‘Look! Your mother and brothers are standing outside. They want to speak to you.’
48 Jesus replied, ‘I will tell you who my mother and my brothers really are.’ 49 Then he pointed to his disciples. He said, ‘Look! Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 My brothers and sisters and my mother are those people who do what my Father in heaven wants.’[h]
Footnotes
- 12:4 See 1 Samuel 21.
- 12:24 Beelzebul is another name for Satan.
- 12:29 Satan is like a strong person. But Jesus a stronger person. He fights Satan and beats him. Jesus sends bad spirits out of people and they go away. This shows that he is stronger than Satan. So it was not possible that Satan was working with Jesus.
- 12:32 The Pharisees had said that Satan worked with Jesus. The Holy Spirit gave his authority and power to Jesus. It was wrong to think that Satan was helping Jesus.
- 12:40 We can read this story in Jonah 1:17. God sent Jonah to a city called Nineveh. Jonah said to the people in that city, ‘You must stop doing bad things. You must show God that you are sorry. And you must start to obey him.’
- 12:42 We can read this story in 1 Kings 10:1-10.
- 12:45 A bad spirit can live in a person. Sometimes the Jewish leaders told a bad spirit to leave a person. It often came out, but later it went back to live inside the person again. Because the person did not have the Holy Spirit inside him, there was a place for bad spirits to live.
- 12:50 People who believe in Jesus become part of the family of God.
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