Matthew 12

¹At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and his disciples were hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat them.

²And the Pharisees, having seen it, said to him: Behold, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.

³But he said to them: Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he himself and those with him,

⁴how he entered into the house of God and they ate the loaves of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those with him, but only for the priests?

⁵Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?

⁶But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here.

⁷But if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless.

⁸For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.

⁹And having departed from there, he went into their synagogue.

¹⁰And behold, there was a man having a withered hand. And they asked him: Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? so that they might accuse him.

¹¹And he said to them: What man among you who has one sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?

¹²How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.

¹³Then he says to the man: Stretch out your hand. And he stretched it out, and it was restored, sound like the other.

¹⁴But the Pharisees went out and took counsel against him, how they might destroy him.

¹⁵But Jesus, knowing this, withdrew from there. And great crowds followed him, and he healed them all,

¹⁶and he warned them that they should not make him known,

¹⁷so that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, saying:

¹⁸Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.

¹⁹He will not quarrel nor cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.

²⁰A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory.

²¹And in his name the Gentiles will hope.

²²Then there was brought to him a demon-possessed man, blind and mute, and he healed him, so that the mute man both spoke and saw.

²³And all the crowds were amazed and said: Could this be the Son of David?

²⁴But the Pharisees, having heard this, said: This man does not cast out the demons except by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.

²⁵But knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them: Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.

²⁶And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand?

²⁷And if I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they themselves will be your judges.

²⁸But if I cast out the demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

²⁹Or how can anyone enter into the house of the strong man and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.

³⁰The one who is not with me is against me, and the one who does not gather with me scatters.

³¹Because of this I say to you: Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

³²And 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 present age nor in the one to come.

³³Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.

³⁴Brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

³⁵The good man out of his good treasure brings forth good things, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth evil things.

³⁶But I say to you that for every careless word that people speak, they will give an account for it on the day of judgment.

³⁷For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

³⁸Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying: Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.

³⁹But he answered and said to them: An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.

⁴⁰For just as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.

⁴¹The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

⁴²The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

⁴³But when the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none.

⁴⁴Then it says: I will return to my house from which I came out. And having come, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order.

⁴⁵Then it goes and takes along with itself seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter in and dwell there; and the last state of that person becomes worse than the first. So it will be also for this evil generation.

⁴⁶While he was still speaking to the crowds, behold, his mother and his brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak with him.

⁴⁷But someone said to him: Behold, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak to you.

⁴⁸But he answered and said to the one who told him: Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?

⁴⁹And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said: Behold my mother and my brothers.

⁵⁰For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother.