Matthew 12: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Jesus is challenged twice about the Sabbath: first when his disciples pick grain to eat, then when he heals a man with a shriveled hand in the synagogue. The Pharisees begin plotting to kill him, and Matthew quotes Isaiah about God's chosen servant. After Jesus frees a blind and mute man from a demon, the Pharisees claim he works by Beelzebub, and Jesus answers with the divided-kingdom argument, a warning about speaking against the Holy Spirit, and a refusal to give any sign but the sign of Jonah. The chapter ends with Jesus pointing to his disciples and saying that whoever does his Father's will is his brother, sister, and mother.

Claim by Claim

1. 12:1
   • At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the sabbath.
   • Jesus' disciples were hungry.
   • The disciples began to pluck heads of grain.
   • The disciples began to eat the grain.
2. 12:2
   • The Pharisees saw this.
   • The Pharisees said to Jesus that his disciples were doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath.
3. 12:3
   • Jesus asked them whether they had not read what David did when he was hungry.
   • Those with David were also hungry.
4. 12:4
   • Jesus said David entered the house of God.
   • Jesus said they ate the bread of the presence.
   • Jesus said it was not lawful for David to eat that bread.
   • Jesus said it was not lawful for those with him to eat that bread.
   • Jesus said that bread was lawful only for the priests.
5. 12:5
   • Jesus asked whether they had not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests in the temple profane the sabbath.
   • Jesus said those priests are blameless.
6. 12:6
   • Jesus said to them that something greater than the temple is here.
   • The King James renders this as one greater than the temple being in this place.
7. 12:7
   • Jesus said that if they had known the meaning of 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice', they would not have condemned the guiltless.
   • Jesus quoted a saying that God desires mercy and not sacrifice.
8. 12:8
   • Jesus said the Son of man is Lord of the sabbath.
9. 12:9
   • Jesus departed from that place.
   • Jesus went into their synagogue.
10. 12:10
    • There was a man with a withered hand.
    • They asked Jesus whether it is lawful to heal on the sabbath.
    • They asked this so that they might accuse Jesus.
11. 12:11
    • Jesus asked them which man among them who had one sheep, if it fell into a pit on the sabbath, would not lay hold of it and lift it out.
12. 12:12
    • Jesus asked how much more valuable a man is than a sheep.
    • Jesus said therefore it is lawful to do good on the sabbath.
13. 12:13
    • Jesus told the man to stretch out his hand.
    • The man stretched out his hand.
    • The hand was restored whole, like the other hand.
14. 12:14
    • The Pharisees went out.
    • The Pharisees took counsel against Jesus.
    • The Pharisees planned how they might destroy Jesus.
15. 12:15
    • Jesus knew of the plot.
    • Jesus withdrew from that place.
    • Many followed Jesus.
    • The King James says great multitudes followed him.
    • Jesus healed them all.
16. 12:16
    • Jesus charged them not to make him known.
17. 12:17
    • This happened so that what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled.
18. 12:18
    • The prophecy says: Behold my servant, whom I have chosen.
    • The prophecy says: my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased.
    • The prophecy says: I will put my Spirit upon him.
    • The prophecy says: he will proclaim judgment to the Gentiles.
19. 12:19
    • The prophecy says he will not strive.
    • The prophecy says he will not cry out.
    • The prophecy says no one will hear his voice in the streets.
20. 12:20
    • The prophecy says he will not break a bruised reed.
    • The prophecy says he will not quench a smoking flax.
    • The prophecy says he will do so until he brings judgment to victory.
21. 12:21
    • The prophecy says the Gentiles will hope in his name.
22. 12:22
    • A demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus.
    • Jesus healed him.
    • As a result the mute man spoke and saw.
23. 12:23
    • All the crowds were amazed.
    • The crowds asked whether this man could be the son of David.
24. 12:24
    • The Pharisees heard this.
    • The Pharisees said that this man casts out demons only by Beelzebub, the prince of the demons.
25. 12:25
    • Jesus knew their thoughts.
    • Jesus said every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation.
    • Jesus said every city or house divided against itself will not stand.
26. 12:26
    • Jesus said that if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself.
    • Jesus asked how Satan's kingdom could then stand.
27. 12:27
    • Jesus asked, if he casts out demons by Beelzebub, by whom their sons cast them out.
    • Jesus said that for this reason those sons will be their judges.
28. 12:28
    • Jesus said that if he casts out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon them.
29. 12:29
    • Jesus asked how anyone can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man.
    • Jesus said that then he will plunder his house.
30. 12:30
    • Jesus said whoever is not with him is against him.
    • Jesus said whoever does not gather with him scatters.
31. 12:31
    • Jesus said every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven to men.
    • Jesus said the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.
    • The King James specifies the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
32. 12:32
    • Jesus said whoever speaks a word against the Son of man will be forgiven.
    • Jesus said whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
    • Jesus said that such a person will not be forgiven in this age.
    • Jesus said that such a person will not be forgiven in the age to come.
33. 12:33
    • Jesus said either make the tree good and its fruit good.
    • Jesus said or make the tree corrupt and its fruit corrupt.
    • Jesus said the tree is known by its fruit.
34. 12:34
    • Jesus called them offspring of vipers.
    • Jesus asked how they, being evil, could speak good things.
    • Jesus said the mouth speaks out of the abundance of the heart.
35. 12:35
    • Jesus said the good man brings forth good things out of his good treasure.
    • The King James specifies the good treasure of the heart.
    • Jesus said the evil man brings forth evil things out of his evil treasure.
36. 12:36
    • Jesus said that for every idle word that men speak they will give account of it on the day of judgment.
37. 12:37
    • Jesus said by your words you will be justified.
    • Jesus said by your words you will be condemned.
38. 12:38
    • Certain scribes and Pharisees answered Jesus.
    • They called him Teacher.
    • They said they wanted to see a sign from him.
39. 12:39
    • Jesus answered them.
    • Jesus said an evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign.
    • Jesus said no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
40. 12:40
    • Jesus said Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea creature.
    • The King James calls it the whale's belly.
    • Jesus said the Son of man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
41. 12:41
    • Jesus said the men of Nineveh will rise at the judgment with this generation.
    • Jesus said they will condemn this generation.
    • Jesus said the men of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah.
    • Jesus said something greater than Jonah is here.
42. 12:42
    • Jesus said the queen of the south will rise up at the judgment with this generation.
    • Jesus said she will condemn this generation.
    • Jesus said she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.
    • Jesus said something greater than Solomon is here.
43. 12:43
    • Jesus said that when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest.
    • Jesus said it finds no rest.
44. 12:44
    • Jesus said the spirit then says it will return to the house it came out of.
    • Jesus said that when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order.
45. 12:45
    • Jesus said the spirit then goes and takes with itself seven other spirits more wicked than itself.
    • Jesus said they enter in and dwell there.
    • Jesus said the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.
    • Jesus said it will be so also with this wicked generation.
46. 12:46
    • While Jesus was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers stood outside.
    • They were seeking to speak with him.
47. 12:47
    • Someone said to Jesus that his mother and his brothers were standing outside seeking to speak with him.
48. 12:48
    • Jesus answered the one who told him.
    • Jesus asked who his mother is.
    • Jesus asked who his brothers are.
49. 12:49
    • Jesus stretched out his hand toward his disciples.
    • Jesus said, Behold my mother and my brothers.
50. 12:50
    • Jesus said whoever does the will of his Father who is in heaven is his brother and sister and mother.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

12:1

KJV "corn" means grain of any kind, here wheat or barley, not maize; "an hungred" is old English for "were hungry." The sabbath was the seventh day of the week, from Friday evening to Saturday evening, on which the law of Moses forbade work. The law also allowed anyone passing through a field to pluck grain by hand to eat on the spot, so the objection that follows is about the day, not about theft.

12:2

The Pharisees were a movement devoted to keeping the law of Moses precisely, including a large body of worked-out rules for applying it to daily life. Reaping was one of the kinds of work forbidden on the sabbath, and picking heads of grain and rubbing them counted as reaping in their reckoning. "Not lawful" throughout this chapter means not permitted by that law, not illegal under Roman law.

12:3

The incident is told in 1 Samuel 21. David, not yet king and on the run from Saul, asked a priest at the sanctuary for food.

12:4

"Shewbread" is the old spelling of showbread: twelve loaves set out on a table in the sanctuary before God and replaced with fresh loaves each week. The law reserved the old loaves for the priests to eat.

12:5

Priests had to work on the sabbath precisely because the law required it: the sabbath offerings had to be killed and burned, and the showbread changed. So the law itself commanded activity that would otherwise count as breaking the day.

12:6

The Greek word here is neuter, "something greater," not clearly "someone greater." Both readings have been taken from it since antiquity, and the wording leaves it open.

12:7

The quoted line is from Hosea 6:6. In 1611 English "I will have" means "I want" or "I desire," not a prediction about the future. "Sacrifice" means the animal offerings of the temple system.

12:8

"Son of man" translates a Hebrew and Aramaic phrase that in ordinary speech simply means a human being, but which is also the title of the figure given everlasting authority in Daniel 7:13-14. In the Gospels it is the expression Jesus most often uses of himself, and both senses hang on it.

12:9

A synagogue was the local assembly building where Jews of a town gathered to pray and to hear the scriptures read and explained. It was not the temple, where sacrifices were offered; there was only one temple, in Jerusalem, but a synagogue in every town.

12:10

A withered hand is one shrunken and paralyzed, useless for work. The dispute is not whether healing was good but whether it could wait: it was widely accepted that danger to life overrode the sabbath, while a long-standing condition could be treated the next day without loss.

12:11

Whether an animal fallen into a pit could be hauled out on the sabbath, or only fed and kept comfortable until the next day, was a live argument among teachers of the law. Jesus appeals to the more lenient practice as something his hearers already follow.

12:14

"Held a council" means took counsel together, that is, conferred and made a plan. "Destroy" here means kill, not merely ruin.

12:16

"Charged them" means he gave them a firm order.

12:17

"Esaias" is the Greek form of the name Isaiah, and the KJV keeps the Greek spellings of Hebrew names when quoting the New Testament, as it does with "Jonas" for Jonah later in this chapter. The quotation that follows is from Isaiah 42:1-4.

12:18

"Judgment" in this quotation means justice, a right ordering of things, rather than a verdict against someone. "Gentiles" translates a word meaning the nations, that is, all the peoples who are not Jews. "My soul is well pleased" uses a Hebrew idiom in which "soul" stands for the whole self, so it means simply "I delight in him."

12:19

"Strive" here means to quarrel or wrangle. The picture is of someone who does not fight his corner loudly in public places.

12:20

A reed is a hollow marsh stalk, easily cracked and then good for nothing; "smoking flax" is the linen wick of an oil lamp that has burned down to a smolder. Both are things a person would normally throw away. "Quench" means put out, extinguish.

12:22

The KJV uses "devil" both for Satan and, as here, for the lesser spirits that modern translations call demons; the Greek uses two different words. "Dumb" in 1611 English means unable to speak and carries no suggestion of stupidity.

12:23

"Son of David" was a standing title for the promised king descended from David who was expected to restore Israel. To ask it of a healer is to ask whether he is that figure.

12:24

Beelzebub, or Beelzebul, was a name for the chief of the demons. It appears to derive from Baal-zebub, "lord of the flies," the god of the Philistine city Ekron mentioned in 2 Kings 1, a name that may itself already be a mocking distortion.

12:27

"Your children" translates a phrase meaning "your sons," used here for members of their own circle or followers. Driving out demons was practiced by various Jewish healers and exorcists of the period, so the argument turns their own people against their charge.

12:28

God's kingdom means God ruling as king. Where God is in charge, his kingdom has come.

12:29

"Spoil" in 1611 English means to plunder or strip of goods, not to ruin or to let rot. The picture is a burglary: the owner must be tied up before the house can be emptied.

12:30

Gathering and scattering is a picture from farming and shepherding. One person brings the flock or the harvest together, another drives it apart.

12:31

Blasphemy means speech that insults or defames God or sacred things. "Holy Ghost" is the KJV rendering of what modern translations call the Holy Spirit; in 1611 "ghost" simply meant spirit and carried no sense of a haunting.

12:32

"World" here translates a Greek word meaning age or era, not the planet. "This world" and "the world to come" are the present age and the age to come, a standard pair in Jewish speech of the time.

12:33

In 1611 English "his" served as the possessive for things as well as people, so "his fruit" means "its fruit" and "by his fruit" means "by its fruit." "Corrupt" means rotten or spoiled.

12:34

"Generation of vipers" means brood or offspring of vipers, a viper being a venomous snake. It is an insult about what they have bred from and what they are, not a comment on their age group.

12:35

"Treasure" here means a storeroom or hoard, the place where a person keeps things laid up, rather than the valuables themselves.

12:36

An "idle word" is a careless or useless one, something said without weight or thought behind it.

12:37

"Justified" is courtroom language: to be declared in the right, acquitted. It is the opposite of "condemned" in the same sentence.

12:38

Scribes were trained experts in the written law, who copied it, taught it and ruled on its application. "Master" translates a word meaning teacher, with no sense of ownership. A "sign" is a miracle demanded as proof of authority, a credential rather than an act of help.

12:39

The prophets regularly described Israel's unfaithfulness to God as adultery, picturing the relationship as a marriage. "Adulterous" here carries that sense rather than an accusation about sexual conduct. "Jonas" is the Greek form of Jonah.

12:40

Jonah 1:17 says a great fish, and the Greek word the KJV renders "whale" means simply a huge sea creature. "Three days and three nights" reflects a way of counting in which any part of a day counts as a whole one, so Friday to Sunday could be spoken of this way. "The heart of the earth" means the grave.

12:41

Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, the great foreign power of Jonah's day, and its people were Gentiles. In the book of Jonah they turn from their wrongdoing at his preaching. "Rise in judgment with" means stand up at the judgment alongside, as witnesses whose own conduct makes the case against the others.

12:42

"The queen of the south" is the queen of Sheba, whose visit to Solomon is told in 1 Kings 10. Sheba lay in southern Arabia or nearby, a journey of many weeks, which is why she stands for someone coming from the ends of the earth.

12:43

"Unclean spirit" is another term for a demon; "unclean" is a ritual word meaning unfit to come near what is holy, not a comment on dirt. Waterless, uninhabited country was commonly thought of as the haunt of such spirits.

12:44

"Garnished" in 1611 English means furnished or put in order, as a room is arranged, and has nothing to do with food. The three words together describe a house standing ready and unoccupied.

12:45

Seven is used here as a number of completeness, so "seven other spirits" conveys a full and overwhelming occupation rather than an exact headcount.

12:46

"Brethren" is simply the old plural of brothers, and "stood without" means stood outside. The Greek word for brothers is the ordinary one for siblings, though from early on readers have disagreed over whether Jesus's brothers were sons of Mary, sons of Joseph by an earlier marriage, or close kinsmen.

12:47

This verse is missing from several of the oldest surviving manuscripts, which run straight from verse 46 to verse 48. Editions differ over whether to print it.