Matthew 12

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and his disciples were hungry and began to pick heads of grain and to eat them.

But the Pharisees, when they saw it, said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what it is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”

But he said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he and those with him were hungry,

how he went into the house of God and ate the Bread of the Presence, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?

Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath day the priests in the Temple profane the Sabbath, and are guiltless?

But I say to you, that one greater than the Temple is here.

But if you had known what this means, I want mercy, and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless.

For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

And he departed from there and went into their synagogue,

and look! A man with a shriveled hand! And in order to accuse him, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

And he said to them, “Who is there among you that if he has even one sheep that falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?

How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored whole, as the other.

But the Pharisees went out and plotted against him as to how they could destroy him.

But when Jesus realized it, he withdrew from there, and many followed him, and he healed them all.

And he warned them not to make him known,

with the result that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying,

Then was brought to him a man afflicted by a demon who was blind and mute. And he healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw.

And all the crowd was amazed, and said, “This cannot be the Son of David, can it?”

But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “This man does not cast out demons except by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.”

And knowing their thoughts he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.

And if the Adversary casts out the Adversary, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?

And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.

But if I cast out demons by the spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.

“Or how is one able to enter the house of the strong man and carry off his property unless he first ties up the strong man? And then he can plunder his house.

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me, scatters.

“Therefore I say to you, people will be forgiven for every sin and defaming word, but the defaming of the Spirit will not be forgiven.

And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, neither in this age, nor in that which is about to come.

“Either declare the tree good, and thus its fruit good, or declare the tree corrupt, and thus its fruit corrupt, for the tree is known by its fruit.

You offspring of vipers! How are you, being evil, able to speak good things? For the mouth speaks what overflows from the heart.

The good person out of his good treasure brings out good things, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings out evil things.

And I say to you, that every careless word that people speak, they will give account of it on the Day of Judgment.

For by your words you will be declared righteous, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Then some of the experts in the law and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”

But he answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet,

for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

The men of Nineveh will stand up at the Judgment with this generation and will condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, someone greater than Jonah is here.

The queen of the south will rise up at the Judgment with this generation and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, someone greater than Solomon is here.

“Now when the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places, seeking a resting place, and does not find it.

Then it says, ‘I will return into my house from which I came out,’ and when it comes, it finds it empty, swept, and put in order.

Then it goes and takes with itself seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter in and live there, and the last state of that person becomes worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”

While he was still speaking to the crowds, look, his mother and his brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him.

[[And someone said to him, “Look! Your mother and your brothers stand outside, wanting to speak to you.”]]

He answered and said to the one telling him, “Who is my mother? And who are my brothers?”

And he stretched out his hand toward his disciples and said, “Look! My mother and my brothers!

For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, that one is my brother, and sister, and mother.”