Matthew 12:1-8

Disciples’ Literal New Testament

Regarding The Sabbath, Jesus Makes Himself The Issue: I Am Lord of The Sabbath

12 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry and began to pluck^[a] heads [of grain] and eat. ² And the Pharisees, having seen it, said to Him, “Behold— Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to be doing on a Sabbath”. ³ And the One said to them, “Did you not read [in 1 Sam 21:1-6] what David did when he was hungry, and the ones with him— ⁴ how he entered into the house of God and they ate the Bread of Presentation^[b] which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for the ones with him, but for the priests alone? ⁵ Or did you not read in the Law that on the Sabbaths, the priests in the temple profane^[c] the Sabbath and are guiltless^[d]? ⁶ But I say to you that a greater-thing than the temple is here. ⁷ But if you had known what it means [in Hos 6:6]— ‘I desire mercy, and not a sacrifice’— you would not have condemned the guiltless ones. ⁸ For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath^[e]”.