Matthew 12:6

Matthew 12:6 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.
• New International Version (NIV)I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.
• English Standard Version (ESV)I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple.

Context of Matthew 12:6

4how he entered the house of God, and they ate the bread of the Presence — which is not lawful for him or for those with him to eat, but only for the priests? 5Or haven’t you read in the law that on Sabbath days the priests in the temple violate the Sabbath and are innocent? I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. 7If 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.”

Matthew 12:6 word by word

λέγω δὲ ὑμῖν ὅτι τοῦ ἱεροῦ μεῖζόν ἐστιν ὧδε.Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Butδέde · thenG1161
• I sayλέγωlegō · to sayG3004
• unto youσύsu · youG4771
• Thatὅτιhoti · that/since: thatG3754
• in this placeὧδεhōde · hereG5602
• isεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
• greater thanμέγαςmegas · greatG3173
• the templeὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• the templeἱερόνhieron · templeG2411

Cross-references for Matthew 12:6

• Matthew 12:41The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at Jonah’s preaching; and look — something greater than Jonah is here.
• Matthew 23:17Blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold?
• 2 Chronicles 6:18But will God indeed live on earth with humans? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain you, much less this temple I have built.
• Haggai 2:7I will shake all the nations so that the treasures of all the nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,” says the Lord of Armies.
• Malachi 3:1“See, I am going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way before me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to his temple, the Messenger of the covenant you delight in — see, he is coming,” says the Lord of Armies.
• John 2:19Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days.”
• Ephesians 2:20built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.
• Colossians 2:9For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ,
• 1 Peter 2:4As you come to him, a living stone — rejected by people but chosen and honored by God —

Commentaries on Matthew 12:6

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 6In this place is one greater than the temple - Does not our Lord refer here to Malachi 3:1;? Compare this with Hebrews 3:3. The Jews esteemed nothing greater than the temple, except that God who was worshipped in it. Christ, by asserting he was greater than the temple, asserts that he was God; and this he does, in still more direct terms, Matthew 12:8, The Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath - is Institutor and Governor of it. Compare this with Genesis 2:3…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 6One greater than the temple - Here the Saviour refers to himself, and to his own dignity and power. “I have power over the laws; I can grant to my disciples a dispensation from those laws. An act which I command or permit them to do is therefore right.” This proves that he was divine. None but God can authorize people to do a thing contrary to the divine laws. He refers them again Matthew 12:7 to a passage he had before quoted (See the notes at Matthew…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 5-6Priests worked on the Sabbath (Leviticus 24:8–9; Numbers 28:9–10), and the Pharisees did not find this offensive. If the priests’ work for the temple on the Sabbath is allowed, then certainly Jesus can do the same because he is greater than the temple (see Matthew 4:23; 9:35; 11:2–6, 20–30).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 66. But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple--or rather, according to the reading which is best supported, "something greater." The argument stands thus: "The ordinary rules for the observance of the sabbath give way before the requirements of the temple; but there are rights here before which the temple itself must give way." Thus indirectly, but not the less decidedly, does our Lord put in His own claims to consideration in…Read the comment

Topics related to Matthew 12:6

• Accusation, False
• Church
• Ecclesiasticism
• Jesus, the Christ
• Pharisees
• Sabbath
• Tradition

In the dictionaries

• Adulterous
• Condemn
• Desolation
• Idle
• Judgment
• Restore
• Sin
• Wither
• Jesus Christ
• Law in the New Testament

Commentaries on Matthew 12

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Catena Aurea
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• John Lightfoot Commentary
• Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on Acts
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings