12 About that time, Jesus was walking one day through some grainfields with his disciples. It was on the Sabbath, the Jewish day of worship, and his disciples were hungry; so they began breaking off heads of wheat and eating the grain.

² But some Pharisees saw them do it and protested, “Your disciples are breaking the law. They are harvesting on the Sabbath.”

³ But Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you ever read what King David did when he and his friends were hungry? ⁴ He went into the Temple and they ate the special bread permitted to the priests alone. That was breaking the law too. ⁵ And haven’t you ever read in the law of Moses how the priests on duty in the Temple may work on the Sabbath? ⁶ And truly, one is here who is greater than the Temple! ⁷ But if you had known the meaning of this Scripture verse, ‘I want you to be merciful more than I want your offerings,’ you would not have condemned those who aren’t guilty! ⁸ For I, the Messiah,^[a] am master even of the Sabbath.”