Mark 2:18-28

English Standard Version

A Question About Fasting

¹⁸ Now ^(A)John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, ^(B)“Why do John's disciples and ^(C)the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁹ And Jesus said to them, ^(D)“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ^20 (E)The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and ^(F)then they will fast in that day. ²¹ No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. ²² And no one puts new wine into old ^(G)wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”^[a]

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

^23 (H)One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples ^(I)began to pluck heads of grain. ²⁴ And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, ^(J)why are they doing ^(K)what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ²⁵ And he said to them, ^(L)“Have you never read ^(M)what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: ²⁶ how he entered the house of God, in the time of^{[b] (N)}Abiathar the high priest, and ate ^(O)the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” ²⁷ And he said to them, ^(P)“The Sabbath was made for man, ^(Q)not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸ So ^(R)the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”