1At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. Then his disciples became hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and eat.2When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, 'Look! Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.'3He said to them, 'Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him?'4How he entered the house of God and ate the bread 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 the priests on the Sabbath profane the Sabbath in the temple and yet are guiltless?6I tell 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 innocent.8For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.9And departing from there he went into their synagogue.10And behold, a man having a withered hand. And they asked him, saying, 'Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?'—so that they might bring an accusation against him.11He said to them, 'Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?'12How much more valuable is a human being than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.13Then he said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' And he stretched it out, and it was restored, as sound as the other.14The Pharisees went out and took counsel against him, so that they might destroy him.