1 At that time Jesus walked one sabbath through the wheat fields, and His disciples became hungry, and began to pull the heads of wheat and eat them.
2 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Just look! Your disciples are doing something that it is against the law to do on the sabbath!"
3 But He said to them, "Did you never read what David did, when he and his soldiers became hungry?
4 How he went into the house of God, and they ate the sacred loaves, which it was against the law for him or his soldiers to eat, or for anyone except the priests?
5 Or, did you never read in the law that the priests in the temple break the sabbath, and yet are not guilty?
6 But I tell you, there is something greater than the temple here!
7 If you only knew what that saying means, 'It is mercy and not sacrifice that I want,' you would not have condemned men who are not guilty.
8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath."
9 And on leaving there He went into their synagogue.
10 Now there was a man there with one hand withered. And, to get a charge against Him, they asked Him, "Is it right to cure people on the sabbath?"
11 But He said to them, "What man is there among you, if he has only one sheep and it falls into a ditch on the sabbath, will not lay hold on it and lift it out?
12 And how much more a man is worth than a sheep! So it is right to do good on the sabbath."
13 Then He said to the man, "Hold out your hand." And he held it out, and it was cured so that it became like the other.
14 But the Pharisees went out and held a consultation against Him, to put Him to death.
15 But because Jesus knew it, He left there. And many people followed Him, and He cured them all,
16 and charged them not to publish Him,
17 and in this way fulfilled the saying spoken by the prophet Isaiah:
18 "Here is my Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved, in whom my soul delights itself. I will endow Him with my Spirit, and He will announce a judgment to the heathen.
19 He will not debate, nor challenge anyone; His voice will no one hear in the streets;
20 A broken reed He will not break off; a flickering wick He will not put out, until He brings His judgment to victory.
21 On His name the heathen will set their hopes."
22 At that time some people brought to Him a man under the power of demons, who was blind and dumb, and He cured him, so that the dumb man could talk and see.
23 And all the crowds of people were dumbfounded, and began to say, "He is by no means the Son of David, is He?"
24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, "This man is not driving out demons except by the help of Beelzebub, the prince of the demons."
25 But because He knew their thoughts, He said to them, "Any kingdom that is not united is in the process of destruction, and any city or family that is not united cannot last.
26 Now if Satan is driving out Satan, he has become disunited; how then can his kingdom last?
27 And if I am driving out demons by the help of Beelzebub, by whose help are your sons driving them out? So they must be your judges.
28 But if I by the Spirit of God am driving the demons out, then the kingdom of God has come to you.
29 Or, how can anyone get into a giant's house and carry off his goods, unless he first binds the giant? After that he can make a clean sweep of his house.
30 Whoever is not in partnership with me is against me, and whoever does not gather in partnership with me scatters.
31 So I tell you, every sin and all abusive speech will be forgiven men, but abuse against the Spirit cannot be forgiven.
32 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven for it, but whoever speaks abusively against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven for it, either in this world or in the world to come.
33 "You must either make the tree healthy and its fruits healthy or make the tree sickly and its fruits sickly, for a tree is judged by its fruit.
34 You brood of vipers! How can you, wicked as you are, say anything that is good? For the mouth talks about the things that fill the heart.
35 The good man out of his good inner storehouse, brings out good things, the bad man, out of his bad one, bad things.
36 So I tell you, for every worthless word that men utter they will have to give account on the day of judgment;
37 for it is by your words that you will be acquitted and by your words that you will be condemned."
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered Him as follows: "Teacher, we would like to see a spectacular sign given by you."
39 But He answered, "Only a wicked and treacherous age is hankering for a spectacular sign, and no sign will be given it but the sign of the prophet Jonah.
40 For as Jonah was in the whale's stomach for three days and nights, the Son of Man will be three days and nights in the heart of the earth.
41 The men of Nineveh will rise with the leaders of this age at the judgment and condemn them, for they turned to the message preached by Jonah, and there is more than Jonah here!
42 The queen of the south will rise with the leaders of this age at the judgment and condemn them, for she came from the farthest limits of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and there is more than Solomon here!
43 "Whenever the foul spirit goes out of a man, it wanders about in deserts in search of rest, but cannot find it.
44 Then it says, 'I will go back to my house which I left,' and it finds it unoccupied, swept, and ready for use.
45 "Then it goes and gets seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and make their home there, and so the end of that man is worse than the beginning. This is the way it will be with the wicked leaders of this age."