Matthew 12 is the twelfth chapter in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament section of the Christian Bible. 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. This chapter is divided 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 (325–350) Codex Sinaiticus (330–360; complete) Codex Bezae (~400) Codex Washingtonianus (~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 (; ) = Healing the man with a withered hand (; ) = The Chosen Servant (Isaiah 53) = Exorcising the blind and mute man (; ) = Parable of the strong man (; ) = Those not with me are against me (Mark 9) = Unforgivable sin (;) = The Tree and its Fruits () = Request for a sign (; Jonah 2:1) = The Return of the Unclean Spirit () = 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 Protestant theologian Heinrich Meyer notes that there was no accusation of trespass or theft 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 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 ). 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. The verses quoted from Isaiah are from the Septuagint version of . One difference from the Hebrew version is found in verse 21