Matthew 12
JESUS Is LORD of the Sabbath
12 At that time JESUS
went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. HIS disciples were hungry and
began to pick some heads of grain and eat them.
2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to HIM, “Look! YOUR disciples
are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
3 HE answered, “Haven’t
you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?
4 He entered the house of GOD, and he and his companions ate the
consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests.
5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in
the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent?
6 I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.
7 If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not
sacrifice,’
you would not have condemned the innocent.
8 For THE
SON OF MAN is LORD OF THE SABBATH.’
9 Going on from that place, HE went into their synagogue,
10 and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to
bring charges against JESUS, they
asked HIM, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
11 HE said to them, “If any
of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take
hold of it and lift it out?
12 How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it
is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.’
13 Then HE said to the man, ‘Stretch
out your hand.’
So he stretched it out and it
was completely restored, just as sound as the other.
14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill JESUS.
GOD’s Chosen Servant
15 Aware of
this, JESUS
withdrew from that place. A large crowd followed HIM, and HE healed all who
were ill.
16 HE warned them not to tell others about HIM.
17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet
Isaiah:
18 ‘Here is MY
SERVANT WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN, THE ONE I LOVE, IN WHOM I DELIGHT;
I will put MY SPIRIT on HIM,
and HE
WILL PROCLAIM JUSTICE TO THE NATIONS.
19 HE will not quarrel
or cry out;
no one will hear HIS voice in the streets.
20 A BRUISED REED HE WILL NOT BREAK,
and A
SMOLDERING WICK, HE WILL NOT SNUFF OUT,
till HE
HAS BROUGHT JUSTICE THROUGH TO VICTORY.
21 IN HIS NAME THE NATIONS WILL PUT THEIR
HOPE.’
JESUS and Beelzebul
22 Then
they brought HIM a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and JESUS healed him, so
that he could both talk and see.
23 All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be THE SON OF DAVID?’
24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, ‘It is only by
Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that THIS FELLOW drives out demons.”
25 JESUS knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every
city or household divided against itself will not stand.
26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How
then can his kingdom stand?
27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your
people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges.
28 But if it is by THE SPIRIT OF GOD that I drive out demons,
then the kingdom of GOD has
come upon you.
29 ‘Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off
his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his
house.
30 ‘Whoever is not with ME is against ME, and whoever does not gather
with ME scatters.
31 And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven,
but blasphemy against THE SPIRIT will not be forgiven.
32 Anyone who speaks a word against THE SON OF MAN will be forgiven, but anyone
who speaks against THE HOLY SPIRIT will not be forgiven, either in this
age or in the age to come.
33 ‘Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad
and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.
34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything
good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
35 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him,
and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.
36 But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day
of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.
37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you
will be condemned.’
The Sign of Jonah
38 Then
some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to HIM, ‘TEACHER, we want to
see a sign from YOU.’
39 HE answered, ‘A
wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it
except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a
huge fish, so THE
SON OF MAN will be three days and three nights in the heart of
the earth.
41 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this
generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of
Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here.
42 The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this
generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to
listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here.
43 ‘When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid
places seeking rest and does not find it.
44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it
arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order.
45 Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked
than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that
person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked
generation.’
JESUS’ Mother and Brothers
46 While JESUS was still
talking to the crowd, HIS mother and brothers stood outside, wanting
to speak to HIM.
47 Someone told HIM, ‘YOUR mother and brothers are standing outside,
wanting to speak to YOU.’
48 HE replied to HIM, ‘Who is
my mother, and who are my brothers?’
49 Pointing to HIS disciples, HE said, “Here are my mother and my brothers.
50 For whoever does the will of MY FATHER IN HEAVEN is my
brother and sister and mother.”
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