Matthew 12 is the twelfth chapter in the

Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and form ...

in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

section of the

Christian Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

. It continues the narrative about Jesus' ministry in Galilee and introduces controversy over the observance of the Sabbath for the first time.

Text

The original text was written in

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

. This chapter is

divided Division is one of the four basic operations of arithmetic, the ways that numbers are combined to make new numbers. The other operations are addition, subtraction, and multiplication. At an elementary level the division of two natural numb ...

into 50 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: * Papyrus 21 (3rd century; extant verses 24–26, 32–33) * Papyrus 70 (3rd century; extant verses 26–27) *

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(325–350) *

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus ( Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscript ...

(330–360; complete) *

Codex Bezae The Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis, designated by siglum D or 05 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 5 (in the von Soden of New Testament manuscript), is a codex of the New Testament dating from the 5th century writ ...

(~400) *

Codex Washingtonianus The Codex Washingtonianus or Codex Washingtonensis, designated by W or 032 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 014 ( Soden), also called the ''Washington Manuscript of the Gospels'', and ''The Freer Gospel'', contains the four biblical gospels an ...

(~400) * Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (~450; complete) * Codex Purpureus Rossanensis (6th century) * Codex Petropolitanus Purpureus (6th century; extant verses 1–39)

Structure

This chapter can be grouped (with cross references to other biblical passages): * =

Lord of the Sabbath The Lord of the Sabbath is an expression describing Jesus which appears in all three Synoptic Gospels: Matthew 12:1–8, Mark 2:23–28 and Luke 6:1–5. These sections each relate an encounter between Jesus, his Apostles and the Pharisees, the f ...

(; ) * =

Healing the man with a withered hand Jesus heals a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath in one of his miracles recounted in the Gospels, namely in Matthew 12:9- 13, Mark 3:1-6, and Luke 6:6-11. Biblical accounts On a Sabbath, in Luke, "another Sabbath", when Jesus went into ...

(; ) * = The Chosen Servant (

Isaiah 53 Isaiah 53 is the fifty-third chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah and is one of the Nevi'im. Chapters 40 through 55 a ...

) * =

Exorcising the blind and mute man Exorcising the blind and mute man is one of the miracles of Jesus in the Gospels. It appears in Matthew 12:22- 32, Luke 11:14-23 and Mark 3:20-30. According to the Gospels, Jesus healed a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, so that h ...

(; ) * = Parable of the strong man (; ) * = Those not with me are against me (

Mark 9 Mark 9 is the ninth chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It begins with Jesus' prediction that "I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of Go ...

) * = Unforgivable sin (;) * =

The Tree and its Fruits The Parable of the Tree and its Fruits is a parable of Jesus which appears in two similar passages in the New Testament, in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's Gospel and the Sermon on the Plain in Luke's Gospel. From (KJV): :"Beware of false p ...

() * = Request for a sign (; Jonah 2:1) * = The Return of the

Unclean Spirit In English translations of the Bible, unclean spirit is a common rendering of Greek ''pneuma akatharton'' (πνεῦμα ἀκάθαρτον; plural ''pneumata akatharta'' (πνεύματα ἀκάθαρτα)), which in its single occurrence in ...

() * = Jesus' true relatives (; )

Verse 1

:''At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.''

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Protestant theologian

Heinrich Meyer Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer (10 January 1800 – 21 June 1873) was a German Protestant divine. He wrote commentaries on the ''New Testament'' and published an edition of that book. Biography Meyer was born in Gotha. He studied theology at Jena, ...

notes that there was no accusation of

trespass Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels, and trespass to land. Trespass to the person historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery, woundi ...

theft Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for som ...

here: "any one was allowed to pluck ... ears of corn in another man’s field till he was satisfied" in accordance with : :''If you go into your neighbour’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a

sickle A sickle, bagging hook, reaping-hook or grasshook is a single-handed agricultural tool designed with variously curved blades and typically used for harvesting, or reaping, grain crops or cutting Succulent plant, succulent forage chiefly for feed ...

to your neighbour’s standing grain''. The Mosaic law left it unclear whether such licence was authorised on the Sabbath. Both Mark and Luke raise the controversy about the sabbath earlier in their respective gospels ( and ).Meyer, H. A. W.
Meyer's NT Commentary
on Matthew 12, accessed 7 September 2019

Fulfillment of the Servant Song of Isaiah

Matthew states that Jesus' withdrawal from the cities of Galilee and his request that the crowds not make him known is a fulfillment of the first Servant Song of the prophet

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...

. The verses quoted from

are from the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

version of . One difference from the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

version is found in verse 21 (Isaiah 42:4). In translation from the Hebrew version, this reads: :''and the coastlands shall wait for His law'' In the Septuagint and in Matthew's Gospel this reads: :''and in his name shall the Gentiles trust''.

Verses 17–21

:'' that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:'' ::'' "Behold! 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 declare justice to the Gentiles.'' ::'' He will not quarrel nor cry out,'' ::''Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.'' ::'' A bruised reed He will not break,'' ::''And smoking flax He will not quench,'' ::''Till He sends forth justice to victory;'' ::'' And in His name Gentiles will trust."''

Careless or idle words

Dale Allison Dale C. Allison (born November 25, 1955) is an American New Testament scholar, historian of Early Christianity, and Christian theologian who for years served as Errett M. Grable Professor of New Testament Exegesis and Early Christianity at Pittsb ...

associates the references to "idle" words in verses 36 and 37 with the earlier references to blasphemy in verse 31, and sees Jesus as refuting the suggestion that blasphemy "cannot really have eternal consequence because it consists of nothing but words".

Verse 36

:''But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.'' Theologian Albert Barnes describes an "idle word" as literally "a vain, thoughtless, useless word; a word that accomplishes no good", but states that in the context the meaning is "wicked, injurious, false rmalicious" words. The Greek reveals a contrast between ρημα αργον, ''rhēma argon'', idle words or sounds, and the consequential need to ἀποδώσουσιν περὶ αὐτοῦ λόγον, ''apodōsousin peri autou logon'', to provide a reasoned account on the

day of judgment The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...

Verse 37

:''For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.'' Arthur Carr, in the

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges is a biblical commentary set published in parts by Cambridge University Press from 1882 onwards. Anglican bishop John Perowne was the general editor. The first section published was written by theologi ...

, notes the connection between words and

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

.Carr, A. (1893)
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
on Matthew 12, accessed 24 February 2021 W. R. Nicoll contrasts this verse with , where justification turns on actions: ''for I was hungry and you gave Me food ...''Nicoll, W. R. (1897ff)
The Expositor's Greek Testament
on Matthew 12, accessed 24 February 2021 He sees chapter 3 of James's epistle as an extension of this verse.

References

External links

* * King James Bible - Wikisource
English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
Multiple bible versions at ''Bible Gateway''
(NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.) {{Matthew 12 Gospel of Matthew chapters