Matthew 12
12
Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath
1About that same time, Jesus was walking through some fields of grain on a Sabbath day. His followers were with him, and they were hungry. So they began to pick the grain and eat it. 2The Pharisees saw this, and they said to Jesus, “Look! Your followers are doing something that is against the Jewish law to do on the Sabbath day.”
3Jesus answered, “Have you not read what David did when he and the people with him were hungry? 4David went into God’s house. He and those with him ate the bread that was made holy for God. It was against the law for them to eat that bread. Only the priests were allowed to eat it. 5And have you not read in the law of Moses that on every Sabbath day the priests in the Temple break this law about the Sabbath day? But the priests are not wrong for doing that. 6I tell you that there is something here that is greater than the Temple. 7The Scripture says, ‘I want faithful love more than I want animal sacrifices.’# Quotation from Hosea 6:6. You don’t really know what those words mean. If you understood them, you would not judge those who have done nothing wrong.
8“The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath day.”
Jesus Heals a Man’s Crippled Hand
9Jesus left there and went into their synagogue. 10In the synagogue, there was a man with a crippled hand. Some Jews there were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus of doing wrong. So they asked him, “Is it right to heal on the Sabbath day?”# It was against Jewish law to work on the Sabbath day.
11Jesus answered, “If any of you has a sheep, and it falls into a ditch on the Sabbath day, then you will take the sheep and help it out of the ditch. 12Surely a man is more important than a sheep. So the law of Moses allows people to do good things on the Sabbath day.”
13Then Jesus said to the man with the crippled hand, “Let me see your hand.” The man put his hand out, and the hand became well again, the same as the other hand. 14But the Pharisees left and made plans to kill Jesus.
Jesus Is God’s Chosen Servant
15Jesus knew what the Pharisees were doing, so he left that place. Many people followed him, and he healed all who were sick. 16But Jesus warned the people not to tell who he was. 17He did these things to make come true what Isaiah the prophet had said:
18“Here is my servant whom I have chosen.
I love him, and I am pleased with him.
I will put my Spirit in him.
Then he will tell how I will judge all people fairly.
19He will not argue or shout.
No one will hear his voice in the streets.
20He will not break a crushed blade of grass.
He will not put out even a weak flame.
He will continue until he makes fair judgment win the victory.
21In him will the nations find hope.” Isaiah 42:1-4
Jesus’ Power Is from God
22Then some people brought a man to Jesus. This man was blind and could not talk, because he had a demon. Jesus healed the man, and the man could talk and see. 23All the people were amazed. They said, “Perhaps this man is the Son of David!”
24The Pharisees heard the people saying this. The Pharisees said, “Jesus uses the power of Beelzebul to force demons out of people. Beelzebul is the ruler of demons.”
25Jesus knew what the Pharisees were thinking. So he said to them, “Every kingdom that is fighting against itself will be destroyed. And every city that is divided will fall. And every family that is divided cannot succeed. 26So if Satan forces out his own demons, then Satan is divided, and his kingdom will not continue. 27You say that I use the power of Satan when I force out demons. If that is true, then what power do your people use when they force out demons? So your own people prove that you are wrong. 28But if I use the power of God’s Spirit to force out demons, this shows that the kingdom of God has come to you.
29“If anyone wants to enter a strong man’s house and steal his things, first he must tie up the strong man. Then he can steal the things from the strong man’s house.
30“If anyone is not with me, then he is against me. He who does not work with me is working against me. 31So I tell you, people can be forgiven for every sin they do. And people can be forgiven for every bad thing they say. But if anyone speaks against the Holy Spirit, then he will not be forgiven. 32Anyone who says things against the Son of Man can be forgiven. But anyone who says things against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. He will not be forgiven now or in the future.
People Know You by Your Words
33“If you want good fruit, you must make the tree good. If your tree is not good, then it will have bad fruit. A tree is known by the kind of fruit it produces. 34You snakes! You are evil people! How can you say anything good? The mouth speaks the things that are in the heart. 35A good person has good things in his heart. And so he speaks the good things that come from his heart. But an evil person has evil in his heart. So he speaks the evil things that come from his heart. 36And I tell you that people will have to explain about every careless thing they have said. This will happen on the Judgment Day. 37The words you have said will be used to judge you. Some of your words will prove you right, but some of your words will prove you guilty.”
The Leaders Ask for a Miracle
38Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law answered Jesus. They said, “Teacher, we want to see you work a miracle as a sign.”
39Jesus answered, “Evil and sinful people are the ones who want to see a miracle for a sign. But no sign will be given to them. The only sign will be what happened to the prophet Jonah. 40Jonah was in the stomach of the big fish for three days and three nights. In the same way, the Son of Man will be in the grave three days and three nights. 41And on the Judgment Day the men from Nineveh# The city where Jonah preached to warn the people. Read Jonah 3. will stand up with you people who live today. They will show that you are guilty because when Jonah preached to them, they were sorry and changed their lives. And I tell you that someone greater than Jonah is here! 42On the Judgment Day, the Queen of the South# The Queen of Sheba. She traveled 1,000 miles to learn God’s wisdom from Solomon. Read 1 Kings 10:1–13. will stand up with you people who live today. She will show that you are guilty because she came from far away to listen to Solomon’s wise teaching. And I tell you that someone greater than Solomon is here!
People Today Are Full of Evil
43“When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it travels through dry places looking for a place to rest. But it finds no place to rest. 44So the spirit says, ‘I will go back to the home I left.’ When the spirit comes back to the man, the spirit finds the home still empty. The home is swept clean and made neat. 45Then the evil spirit goes out and brings seven other spirits even more evil than it is. Then all the spirits go into the man and live there. And that man has even more trouble than he had before. It is the same way with the evil people who live today.”
Jesus’ True Family
46While Jesus was talking to the people, his mother and brothers stood outside. They wanted to talk to him. 47Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and brothers are waiting for you outside. They want to talk to you.”# Some Greek copies do not have verse 47.
48He answered, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” 49Then he pointed to his followers and said, “See! These people are my mother and my brothers. 50My true brothers and sisters and mother are those who do the things that my Father in heaven wants.”
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Matthew 12: ICB
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Matthew 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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