Matthew 12:1–14

¹At that time Jesus went on the sabbath through the cornfields; and his disciples were hungry, and began to pluck the ears and to eat. ²But the Pharisees, seeing it, said to him, Behold, thy disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on sabbath. ³But he said to them, Have ye not read what David did when he was hungry, and they that were with him? ⁴How he entered into the house of God, and ate the shewbread, which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those with him, but for the priests only? ⁵Or have ye not read in the law that on the sabbaths the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless? ⁶But I say unto you, that there is here what is greater than the temple. ⁷But if ye had known what is: I will have mercy and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. ⁸For the Son of man is Lord of the sabbath. ⁹And, going away from thence, he came into their synagogue. ¹⁰And behold, there was a man having his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath? that they might accuse him. ¹¹But he said to them, What man shall there be of you who has one sheep, and if this fall into a pit on the sabbath, will not lay hold of it and raise it up? ¹²How much better then is a man than a sheep! So that it is lawful to do well on the sabbath. ¹³Then he says to the man, Stretch out thy hand. And he stretched it out, and it was restored sound as the other.

¹⁴But the Pharisees, having gone out, took counsel against him, how they might destroy him.