Mattityahu (Mat) 12
12
1One Shabbat during that time, Yeshua was walking through some wheat fields. His talmidim were hungry, so they began picking heads of grain and eating them. 2On seeing this, the P’rushim said to him, “Look! Your talmidim are violating Shabbat!” 3But he said to them, “Haven’t you ever read what David did when he and those with him were hungry? 4He entered the House of God and ate the Bread of the Presence!” — which was prohibited, both to him and to his companions; it is permitted only to the cohanim. 5“Or haven’t you read in the Torah that on Shabbat the cohanim profane Shabbat and yet are blameless? 6I tell you, there is in this place something greater than the Temple! 7If you knew what ‘I want compassion rather than animal-sacrifice’ meant, you would not condemn the innocent. 8For the Son of Man is Lord of Shabbat!”
9Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue. 10A man there had a shriveled hand. Looking for a reason to accuse him of something, they asked him, “Is healing permitted on Shabbat?” 11But he answered, “If you have a sheep that falls in a pit on Shabbat, which of you won’t take hold of it and lift it out? 12How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore, what is permitted on Shabbat is to do good.” 13Then to the man he said, “Hold out your hand.” As he held it out, it became restored, as sound as the other one. 14But the P’rushim went out and began plotting how they might do away with Yeshua. 15Aware of this, he left that area.
Many people followed him; and he healed them all 16but warned them not to make him known. 17This was to fulfill what had been spoken through Yesha‘yahu the prophet,
18“Here is my servant, whom I have chosen,
my beloved, with whom I am well pleased;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will announce justice to the Gentiles.
19He will not fight or shout,
no one will hear his voice in the streets;
20he will not snap off a broken reed
or snuff out a smoldering wick
until he has brought justice through to victory.
21In him the Gentiles will put their hope.”
22Then some people brought him a man controlled by demons who was blind and mute; and Yeshua healed him, so that he could both speak and see. 23The crowds were astounded and asked, “This couldn’t be the Son of David, could it?” 24But when the P’rushim heard of it, they said, “It is only by Ba‘al-Zibbul” — the ruler of the demons — “that this man drives out demons.”
25However, knowing what they were thinking, Yeshua said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not survive. 26If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself; so how can his kingdom survive? 27Besides, if I drive out demons by Ba‘al-Zibbul, by whom do your people drive them out? So, they will be your judges! 28But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you!
29“Or again, how can someone break into a strong man’s house and make off with his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? After that he can ransack his house.
30“Those who are not with me are against me, and those who do not gather with me are scattering. 31Because of this, I tell you that people will be forgiven any sin and blasphemy, but blaspheming the Ruach HaKodesh will not be forgiven. 32One can say something against the Son of Man and be forgiven; but whoever keeps on speaking against the Ruach HaKodesh will never be forgiven, neither in the ‘olam hazeh nor in the ‘olam haba.
33“If you make a tree good, its fruit will be good; and if you make a tree bad, its fruit will be bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. 34You snakes! How can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what overflows from the heart. 35The good person brings forth good things from his store of good, and the evil person brings forth evil things from his store of evil. 36Moreover, I tell you this: on the Day of Judgment people will have to give account for every careless word they have spoken; 37for by your own words you will be acquitted, and by your own words you will be condemned.”
38At this some of the Torah-teachers said, “Rabbi, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.” 39He replied, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign? No! None will be given to it but the sign of the prophet Yonah. 40For just as Yonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea-monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the depths of the earth. 41The people of Ninveh will stand up at the Judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they turned from their sins to God when Yonah preached, but what is here now is greater than Yonah. 42The Queen of the South will stand up at the Judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Shlomo, but what is here now is greater than Shlomo.
43“When an unclean spirit comes out of a person, it travels through dry country seeking rest and does not find it. 44Then it says to itself, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house standing empty, swept clean and put in order. 45Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they come and live there — so that in the end, the person is worse off than he was before. This is how it will be for this wicked generation.”
46He was still speaking to the crowd when his mother and brothers appeared outside, asking to talk with him. 47 48But to the one who had informed him he replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” 49Pointing to his talmidim, he said, “Look! Here are my mother and my brothers! 50Whoever does what my Father in heaven wants, that person is my brother and sister and mother.”
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Mattityahu (Mat) 12: CJB
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Learn More About Complete Jewish BibleMatthew 12
12
(We have not yet translated 12:1-15a. You can read those stories and messages in Mark 2:23—3:6.)
One of God’s men wrote about Jesus
15Big mobs of people followed Jesus. Some of them were sick, and he made them better. 16But he told them straight, “Don’t go and tell other people about me.” 17A long time ago, God got his man called Isaiah to write about this, and it is in God’s book. It happened just like Isaiah said. This is what he wrote,
18“This is the man that God picked to work for himself.
God loves him, and he makes God very happy.
God will put his spirit in him,
and he will tell the people in other nations that God is right and fair.
19He will not fight with anyone or shout at people.
Nobody will hear him shouting in the streets.
20Some people are weak, like a bit of grass that is almost broken,
and some people can’t help themselves, like a candle wick that has almost gone out.
He will not forget those people, but he will help them to get strong.
He will keep on being right and fair to everyone,
until people are fair to each other too.
21And people everywhere will believe that he can save them.”#Isaiah 42:1-4
(We have not yet translated 12:22-37. You can read those stories and messages in Mark 3:20-30 and Luke 6:43-45.)
The Pharisee mob asked Jesus to do something powerful
38One day, some Jewish law teachers, and some of the Pharisee mob, that were strong for the Jewish law, they went to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we want to see you do something powerful. That will show us that God sent you.”#Matthew 16:1; Luke 11:16
39Jesus said, “You mob that are alive today are really bad. You turned away from God. But now you want me to show you something powerful, right? No. I will not do that. The only powerful thing you will see is the same thing that God did to Jonah. He was one of God’s men.#Matthew 16:4 40Think about that story from a long time ago. A big fish ate Jonah, and he stayed inside that fish for 3 days. And just like that, I will stay in the ground for 3 days. I am God’s special man from heaven.#Jonah 1:17
41Jonah went to the people that lived in the city called Nineveh, and he told them God’s message. Those people listened to him, and they stopped doing bad things and turned to God. Well, later, on the day when God will judge everyone, that Nineveh mob will get up and tell you mob here that you are wrong. You see, that Nineveh mob listened to Jonah. And I am greater than Jonah, but you mob don’t listen properly to me. You don’t turn to God, and you don’t stop doing bad things.#Jonah 3:5
42And think about the story about the woman from Sheba. She was the big boss over that country. One day, she heard about Solomon. He was the big boss over our country. She heard that he was a very wise man, so she came here to listen to the good things he said. Well, later, on the day when God will judge everyone, that woman will get up and tell you mob here that you are stupid. You see, she came a long way from her country just to listen to Solomon. And I am more wise than Solomon, but you mob don’t want to listen to me.”#1 Kings 10:1-10; 2 Chronicles 9:1-12
Bad spirits come back
43And Jesus said, “When a bad spirit goes out of a person, it goes around in dry country looking for a new place to live. But it doesn’t find a good place. 44So it says to itself, ‘I will go back to the place where I lived before.’ Then it goes back to that person, and it finds the place is good, empty, and clean. 45Then the bad spirit goes out and gets 7 other bad spirits that are worse than itself. And they all go into the person, and they live there. Then that person has more bad spirits than before, so that person is worse than before. Listen, I’m talking about you mob here today. You don’t listen to me, so you are worse now than you were before I came.”
(We have not yet translated 12:46—13:23. You can read those stories and messages in Mark 3:31-35; 4:1-20.)
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