¹² After this he went down to Capernaum^(A) with his mother^(B) and brothers^(C) and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.

Jesus Clears the Temple Courts^(D)

¹³ When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover,^(E) Jesus went up to Jerusalem.^{(F) 14} In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves,^(G) and others sitting at tables exchanging money.^{(H) 15} So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶ To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house^(I) into a market!”

John Testifies Again About Jesus

²² After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized.^(A)

Jesus Begins to Preach

¹² When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison,^(A) he withdrew to Galilee.^(B)

¹⁷ For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison.^(A) He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. ¹⁸ For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”^{(B) 19} So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, ²⁰ because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man.^(C) When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled^[a]; yet he liked to listen to him.

²¹ Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet^(D) for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee.^{(E) 22} When the daughter of^[b] Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests.

The king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.” ²³ And he promised her with an oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”^(F)

²⁴ She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?”

“The head of John the Baptist,” she answered.

²⁵ At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

²⁶ The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. ²⁷ So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, ²⁸ and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother.

Jesus Drives Out an Impure Spirit^(A)

²¹ They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.^{(B) 22} The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.^(C)

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath^(A)(B)

12 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain^(C) and eat them. ² When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”^(D)

³ He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?^{(E) 4} He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests.^{(F) 5} Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath^(G) and yet are innocent?

⁹ Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, ¹⁰ and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus,^(A) they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”^(B)

¹¹ He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?^{(C) 12} How much more valuable is a person than a sheep!^(D) Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

²⁷ Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man,^(A) not man for the Sabbath.^(B)

¹⁴ But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.^(A)