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? ⁶ I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.^{(H) 7} If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’^[a](I) you would not have condemned the innocent. ⁸ For the Son of Man^(J) is Lord of the Sabbath.”

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,^(K) they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”^(L)

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?^{(M) 12} How much more valuable is a person than a sheep!^(N) Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

¹³ Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. ¹⁴ But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.^(O)

⁵ “Take the finest flour and bake twelve loaves of bread,^(A) using two-tenths of an ephah^[a](B) for each loaf. ⁶ Arrange them in two stacks, six in each stack, on the table of pure gold^(C) before the Lord. ⁷ By each stack put some pure incense^(D) as a memorial^[b] portion^(E) to represent the bread and to be a food offering presented to the Lord. ⁸ This bread is to be set out before the Lord regularly,^(F) Sabbath after Sabbath,^(G) on behalf of the Israelites, as a lasting covenant. ⁹ It belongs to Aaron and his sons,^(H) who are to eat it in the sanctuary area,^(I) because it is a most holy^(J) part of their perpetual share of the food offerings presented to the Lord.”