Matthew Chapter 12 verse 3 Holy Bible
But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was hungry, and they that were with him;
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But he said to them, Have you no knowledge of what David did when he had need of food, and those who were with him?
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But he said to them, Have ye not read what David did when he was hungry, and they that were with him?
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But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;
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But he said to them, "Haven't you read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him;
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And he said to them, `Did ye not read what David did, when he was hungry, himself and those with him --
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 3. - But he said unto them, Have ye not read. Our Lord answers them by showing that the principle of the action of his disciples was sanctioned in the Scriptures to which they implicitly appealed. He calls their attention first (more Rabbinico; cf. on ver. 5) to the Prophets (i.e. the former prophets, according to the Hebrew division), as teaching by example that holy things are of secondary importance compared with the benefit of God's people; and afterwards to the Law, which implies that the sabbath itself is of secondary importance compared with work necessary for the sanctuary. He then affirms that in the present case there is One present who is even greater than the sanctuary. He goes on to say that their complaint, however, was really due to the lack, not so much of intellectual as of spiritual knowledge; they had no rapprochement with the God of love, or they would not have condemned those who, both because they were men and because they were disciples of the Son of man, stood above the sabbath. What David did, when he was a hungred, and they that were with him (1 Samuel 21:1-7).
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(3) Have ye not read . . .?--The question was an appeal to the Pharisees on the ground where they thought themselves strongest. For them it was an argument a fortiori. Would they accuse David of sacrilege and Sabbath-breaking because he, in a case of urgent need, set at nought the two-fold law of ordinances? If they shrank from that, was it not inconsistent to condemn the disciples of Jesus for a far lighter transgression?