Matthew 12
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
12 At that time Jesus went through the corn on the sabbath: and his disciples being hungry, began to pluck the ears, and to eat.
2 And the Pharisees seeing them, said to him: Behold thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days.
3 But he said to them: Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and they that were with him:
4 How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the loaves of proposition, which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for them that were with him, but for the priests only?
5 Or have ye not read in the law, that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple break the sabbath, and are without blame?
6 But I tell you that there is here a greater than the temple.
7 And if you knew what this meaneth: I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: you would never have condemned the innocent.
8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath.
9 And when he had passed from thence, he came into their synagogues.
10 And behold there was a man who had a withered hand, and they asked him, saying: Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him.
11 But he said to them: What man shall there be among you, that hath one sheep: and if the same fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not take hold on it and lift it up?
12 How much better is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do a good deed on the sabbath days.
13 Then he saith to the man: Stretch forth thy hand; and he stretched it forth, and it was restored to health even as the other.
14 And the Pharisees going out made a consultation against him, how they might destroy him.
15 But Jesus knowing it, retired from thence: and many followed him, and he healed them all.
16 And he charged them that they should not make him known.
17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaias the prophet, saying:
18 Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul hath been well pleased. I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.
19 He shall not contend, nor cry out, neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.
20 The bruised reed he shall not break: and smoking flax he shall not extinguish: till he send forth judgment unto victory.
21 And in his name the Gentiles shall hope.
22 Then was offered to him one possessed with a devil, blind and dumb: and he healed him, so that he spoke and saw.
23 And all the multitudes were amazed, and said: Is not this the son of David?
24 But the Pharisees hearing it, said: This man casteth not out the devils but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.
25 And Jesus knowing their thoughts, said to them: Every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate: and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.
26 And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself: how then shall his kingdom stand?
27 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.
28 But if I by the Spirit of God cast out devils, then is the kingdom of God come upon you.
29 Or how can any one enter into the house of the strong, and rifle his goods, unless he first bind the strong? and then he will rifle his house.
30 He that is not with me, is against me: and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth.
31 Therefore I say to you: Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but the blasphemy of the Spirit shall not be forgiven.
32 And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but he that shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come.
33 Either make the tree good and its fruit good: or make the tree evil, and its fruit evil. For by the fruit the tree is known.
34 O generation of vipers, how can you speak good things, whereas you are evil? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
35 A good man out of a good treasure bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of an evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
36 But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment.
37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying: Master we would see a sign from thee.
39 Who answering said to them: An evil and adulterous generation seeketh a sign: and a sign shall not be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.
40 For as Jonas was in the whale's belly three days and three nights: so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.
41 The men of Ninive shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they did penance at the preaching of Jonas. And behold a greater than Jonas here.
42 The queen of the south shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold a greater than Solomon here.
43 And when an unclean spirit is gone out of a man he walketh through dry places seeking rest, and findeth none.
44 Then he saith: I will return into my house from whence I came out. And coming he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
45 Then he goeth, and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is made worse than the first. So shall it be also to this wicked generation.
46 As he was yet speaking to the multitudes, behold his mother and his brethren stood without, seeking to speak to him.
47 And one said unto him: Behold thy mother and thy brethren stand without, seeking thee.
48 But he answering him that told him, said: Who is my mother, and who are my brethren?
49 And stretching forth his hand towards his disciples, he said: Behold my mother and my brethren.
50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father, that is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.
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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