Matthew 12

₁Not long afterwards Jesus was walking through some cornfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, so they began to pick ears of corn and eat the grain. ₂When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Jesus, “Look, it is against our Law for your disciples to do this on the Sabbath!”

₃Jesus answered, “Have you never read what David did that time when he and his men were hungry? ₄He went into the house of God, and he and his men ate the bread offered to God, even though it was against the Law for them to eat it — only the priests were allowed to eat that bread. ₅Or have you not read in the Law of Moses that every Sabbath the priests in the Temple actually break the Sabbath law, yet they are not guilty? ₆I tell you that there is something here greater than the Temple. ₇The scripture says, ‘It is kindness that I want, not animal sacrifices.’ If you really knew what this means, you would not condemn people who are not guilty; ₈for the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

₉Jesus left that place and went to a synagogue, ₁₀where there was a man who had a paralysed hand. Some people were there who wanted to accuse Jesus of doing wrong, so they asked him, “Is it against our Law to heal on the Sabbath?”

₁₁Jesus answered, “What if one of you has a sheep and it falls into a deep hole on the Sabbath? Will you not take hold of it and lift it out? ₁₂And a human being is worth much more than a sheep! So then, our Law does allow us to help someone on the Sabbath.” ₁₃Then he said to the man with the paralysed hand, “Stretch out your hand.”

He stretched it out, and it became well again, just like the other one. ₁₄Then the Pharisees left and made plans to kill Jesus.

₁₅When Jesus heard about the plot against him, he went away from that place; and large crowds followed him. He healed all those who were ill ₁₆and gave them orders not to tell others about him. ₁₇He did this so as to make what God had said through the prophet Isaiah come true:

₂₂Then some people brought to Jesus a man who was blind and could not talk because he had a demon. Jesus healed the man, so that he was able to talk and see. ₂₃The crowds were all amazed at what Jesus had done. “Could he be the Son of David?” they asked.

₂₄When the Pharisees heard this, they replied, “He drives out demons only because their ruler Beelzebul gives him power to do so.”

₂₅Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he said to them, “Any country that divides itself into groups which fight each other will not last very long. And any town or family that divides itself into groups which fight each other will fall apart. ₂₆So if one group is fighting another in Satan's kingdom, this means that it is already divided into groups and will soon fall apart! ₂₇You say that I drive out demons because Beelzebul gives me the power to do so. Well, then, who gives your followers the power to drive them out? What your own followers do proves that you are wrong! ₂₈No, it is not Beelzebul, but God's Spirit, who gives me the power to drive out demons, which proves that the Kingdom of God has already come upon you.

₂₉“No one can break into a strong man's house and take away his belongings unless he first ties up the strong man; then he can plunder his house.

₃₀“Anyone who is not for me is really against me; anyone who does not help me gather is really scattering. ₃₁And so I tell you that people can be forgiven any sin and any evil thing they say; but whoever says evil things against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. ₃₂Anyone who says something against the Son of Man can be forgiven; but whoever says something against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven — now or ever.

₃₃“To have good fruit you must have a healthy tree; if you have a poor tree, you will have bad fruit. A tree is known by the kind of fruit it bears. ₃₄You snakes — how can you say good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. ₃₅A good person brings good things out of a treasure of good things; a bad person brings bad things out of a treasure of bad things.

₃₆“You can be sure that on Judgement Day everyone will have to give account of every useless word he has ever spoken. ₃₇Your words will be used to judge you — to declare you either innocent or guilty.”

₃₈Then some teachers of the Law and some Pharisees spoke up. “Teacher,” they said, “we want to see you perform a miracle.”

₃₉“How evil and godless are the people of this day!” Jesus exclaimed. “You ask me for a miracle? No! The only miracle you will be given is the miracle of the prophet Jonah. ₄₀In the same way that Jonah spent three days and nights in the big fish, so will the Son of Man spend three days and nights in the depths of the earth. ₄₁On Judgement Day the people of Nineveh will stand up and accuse you, because they turned from their sins when they heard Jonah preach; and I tell you that there is something here greater than Jonah! ₄₂On Judgement Day the Queen of Sheba will stand up and accuse you, because she travelled all the way from her country to listen to King Solomon's wise teaching; and I assure you that there is something here greater than Solomon!

₄₃“When an evil spirit goes out of a person, it travels over dry country looking for a place to rest. If it can't find one, ₄₄it says to itself, ‘I will go back to my house.’ So it goes back and finds the house empty, clean, and all tidy. ₄₅Then it goes out and brings along seven other spirits even worse than itself, and they come and live there. So when it is all over, that person is in a worse state than he was at the beginning. This is what will happen to the evil people of this day.”

₄₆Jesus was still talking to the people when his mother and brothers arrived. They stood outside, asking to speak with him. ₄₇So one of the people there said to him, “Look, your mother and brothers are standing outside, and they want to speak with you.”

₄₈Jesus answered, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” ₄₉Then he pointed to his disciples and said, “Look! Here are my mother and my brothers! ₅₀Whoever does what my Father in heaven wants him to do is my brother, my sister, and my mother.”