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Chapter 12

Picking Grain on the Sabbath. [a]At that time Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath.(A) His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads[b] of grain and eat them.(B) When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath.”

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Footnotes

  1. 12:1–14 Matthew here returns to the Marcan order that he left in Mt 9:18. The two stories depend on Mk 2:23–28; 3:1–6, respectively, and are the only places in either gospel that deal explicitly with Jesus’ attitude toward sabbath observance.
  2. 12:1–2 The picking of the heads of grain is here equated with reaping, which was forbidden on the sabbath (Ex 34:21).