Matthew 12:1–13

Plucking Grain on the Sabbath

12At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. And his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck off heads of grain and eat them.^{* 2}But when^* the Pharisees saw it,^* they said to him, “Behold, your disciples are doing what it is not permitted to do on the Sabbath!” ³So he said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those with him, ⁴how he entered into the house of God and ate the bread of the presentation, which it was not permitted for him or for those with him to eat, but only for the priests? ⁵Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple violate the sanctity of the Sabbath and are guiltless? ⁶But I tell you that something greater than the temple is here! ⁷And if you had known what it means,^a ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. ⁸For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

A Man with a Withered Hand Healed

⁹And going on from there he came into their synagogue. ¹⁰And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand, and they asked him, saying, “Is it permitted to heal on the Sabbath?” in order that they could accuse him. ¹¹But he said to them, “What man will there be among you who will have one sheep and if this one fell into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it^* out? ¹²Then to what degree is a man worth more than a sheep? So then, it is permitted to do good on the Sabbath.”

¹³Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand,” and he stretched it^* out, and it was restored as healthy as the other one.