Matthew 12:1–13

Controversy Over Sabbath-Labor

Mark 2:23–28; Luke 6:1–5

12At that time ^aJesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to ^bpluck heads of grain and to eat. ²And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”

³But He said to them, “Have you not read ^cwhat David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: ⁴how he entered the house of God and ate ^dthe showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, ^ebut only for the priests? ⁵Or have you not read in the ^flaw that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple ¹profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? ⁶Yet I say to you that in this place there is ^gOne greater than the temple. ⁷But if you had known what this means, ^h‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. ⁸For the Son of Man is Lord ²even of the Sabbath.”

Controversy Over Sabbath-Healing

Mark 3:1–5; Luke 6:6–10

⁹ⁱNow when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. ¹⁰And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, ^j“Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—that they might accuse Him.

¹¹Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? ¹²Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful 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 whole as the other.