Matthew 12:1-8
The Voice
12 The Sabbath came, and Jesus walked through a field. His disciples, who were hungry, began to pick some of the grain and eat it.
The Sabbath is a day of rest when one creates nothing, breaks nothing, gives nothing, makes no contracts, cuts no flowers, and boils no water; it is a day set aside by the Lord to remember the creative work of God, to experience the peace of the Lord, and to rest in the provision of God.
2 When the Pharisees saw this, they reacted.
Pharisees: Look! Your disciples are breaking the law of the Sabbath!
Jesus: 3 Haven’t you read what David did? When he and his friends were hungry, 4 they went into God’s house and they ate the holy bread, even though neither David nor his friends, but only priests, were allowed that bread. 5 Indeed, have you not read that on the Sabbath priests themselves do work in the temple, breaking the Sabbath law yet remaining blameless? 6 Listen, One who is greater than the temple is here.
7 Do you not understand what the prophet Hosea recorded, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”[a]? If you understood that snippet of Scripture, you would not condemn these innocent men for ostensibly breaking the law of the Sabbath. 8 For the Son of Man has not only the authority to heal and cast out demons, He also has authority over the Sabbath.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
