Mark 2:18-28

New International Version

Jesus Questioned About Fasting^(A)

¹⁸ Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting.^(B) Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”

¹⁹ Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. ²⁰ But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them,^(C) and on that day they will fast.

²¹ “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. ²² And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath^(D)(E)

²³ One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain.^{(F) 24} The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”^(G)

²⁵ He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? ²⁶ In the days of Abiathar the high priest,^(H) he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat.^(I) And he also gave some to his companions.”^(J)

²⁷ Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man,^(K) not man for the Sabbath.^{(L) 28} So the Son of Man^(M) is Lord even of the Sabbath.”