Matthew 12

1About that time Jesus was walking through the fields of grain on a Sabbath day. His disciples were hungry, so they started picking some heads of grain and eating them. 2The Pharisees saw it and said to him, “See there! Your disciples are doing something that the law forbids on the Sabbath.” 3Jesus answered them, “Do you not remember reading what David did when he and the men with him were hungry? 4He went into the house of God, and they ate the sacred bread set out before God. Neither David nor his men were allowed to eat it; only the priests were. 5Or have you not read in the law that every Sabbath the priests working in the temple break the Sabbath, and still they bear no guilt? 6I tell you, here is something greater than the temple. 7If you had understood what the words mean, ‘I want mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned people who have done nothing wrong. 8For the Son of Man is Lord over the Sabbath.”

9Jesus left that place and went into their synagogue. 10A man was there whose hand was shriveled. They put a question to him: “Is healing allowed on the Sabbath?” They wanted a reason to bring a charge against him. 11He answered them, “Suppose one of you has just one sheep, and it falls into a hole on the Sabbath. Will you not grab hold of it and pull it out? 12And a human being is worth far more than a sheep! So the law allows doing good on the Sabbath.” 13Then he told the man, “Hold out your hand.” The man held it out, and it was made well again, just like his other hand. 14The Pharisees left and met together to plot against him, looking for a way to put him to death.

15Jesus knew what they were planning, and he withdrew from there. Many people followed him, and he healed every one of them. 16But he ordered them not to tell others who he was. 17This was so that the word spoken through the prophet Isaiah would be fulfilled: 18“See my servant, the one I have chosen, my dearly loved one, in whom my soul delights. I will place my Spirit on him, and he will make justice known to the Gentiles. 19He will not quarrel or shout; no one will hear him raising his voice in the streets. 20He will not snap off a bent reed or snuff out a wick that is barely burning, until he has led justice on to victory. 21And the Gentiles will put their hope in his name.”

22Then a man under the power of a demon was brought to him. The man was blind and unable to speak. Jesus healed him, and now the man could speak and see. 23The crowds were all beside themselves. “Might this man be the Son of David?” they asked. 24But the Pharisees heard it and said, “This man drives out demons only with the help of Beelzebul, the prince of demons.” 25Jesus knew what they were thinking, and he said to them, “Any kingdom that is split into warring parts falls into ruin, and any town or family that fights against itself will not last. 26So if Satan is throwing Satan out, he has turned against himself. In that case, how could his kingdom survive? 27And if I drive out demons with Beelzebul’s help, then whose help do your own people use when they drive them out? So they will be the ones to judge you. 28But if I am driving out demons by the Spirit of God, then God’s kingdom has already arrived among you. 29Or how could anyone break into the house of a strong man and make off with his goods, without tying the strong man up first? Only then can he strip the house bare. 30Anyone who does not stand with me stands against me. Anyone who does not help me gather is scattering. 31This is why I tell you that people can be forgiven every sin and every slander, but no one will be forgiven for blasphemy against the Spirit. 32A person who says something against the Son of Man may be forgiven. But a person who speaks against the Holy Spirit will find no forgiveness, not in the present age and not in the age that is coming.

33Either count the tree good and its fruit good, or count the tree rotten and its fruit rotten. For the fruit shows what kind of tree it is. 34You family of snakes! How could good words come from you, since you are evil? The mouth speaks what spills over from the heart. 35From a good storehouse a good person draws out good things; from an evil storehouse an evil person draws out evil things. 36And I tell you this: every idle word people speak is a word they will have to answer for on judgment day. 37Your own words will declare you innocent, or your own words will condemn you.”

38At this some of the scribes and Pharisees spoke up. “Teacher,” they said, “we would like you to show us a sign.” 39He answered them, “An evil, unfaithful generation goes looking for a sign, but the only sign it will be given is the sign of Jonah the prophet. 40Jonah spent three days and three nights inside the great sea creature, and in the same way the Son of Man will spend three days and three nights deep in the earth. 41On judgment day the people of Nineveh will stand up alongside this generation and condemn it. They turned from their sins when Jonah preached. Yet here is something greater than Jonah. 42The queen from the south will stand up on judgment day alongside this generation and condemn it. She traveled from the far edges of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom. Yet here is something greater than Solomon.

43When an unclean spirit leaves a person, it wanders through dry country in search of a place to rest, but it finds none. 44So it says, ‘I will go back to the home I came out of.’ It returns and finds the place standing empty, swept, and set in order. 45Then it goes off and brings back seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they move in and settle there. In the end that person is worse off than at the start. And this evil generation will fare the same way.”

46Jesus was still talking to the crowds when his mother and brothers arrived. They stood outside, hoping for a word with him. 47Someone told him, “Look, your mother and brothers are standing out there. They are asking to speak with you.” 48Jesus answered the one who had told him, “Who is my mother? And who are my brothers?” 49He held out his hand toward his disciples. “Look,” he said, “these are my mother and my brothers. 50For anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is a brother and sister and mother to me.”