God’s Word Translation
Matthew 12:6
6I can guarantee that something greater than the temple is here.
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
4Haven’t you read how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of the presence? He and his men had no right to eat those loaves. Only the priests have that right. 5Or haven’t you read in Moses’ Teachings that on the day of rest—a holy day, the priests in the temple do things they shouldn’t on the day of rest yet remain innocent? I can guarantee that something greater than the temple is here. 7If you had known what ‘I want mercy, not sacrifices’ means, you would not have condemned innocent people. 8“The Son of Man has authority over the day of rest—a holy day.”
Read all of Matthew 12Matthew 12:6 word by word
λέγω δὲ ὑμῖν ὅτι τοῦ ἱεροῦ μεῖζόν ἐστιν ὧδε.Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Matthew 12:6
- Matthew 12:41The men of Nineveh will stand up with you at the time of judgment and will condemn you, because they turned to God and changed the way they thought and acted when Jonah spoke his message. But look, someone greater than Jonah is here!
- Matthew 23:17You blind fools! What is more important, the gold or the temple that made the gold holy?
- 2 Chronicles 6:18“Does God really live on earth with people? If heaven itself, the highest heaven, cannot hold you, then how can this temple that I have built?
- Haggai 2:7I will shake all the nations, and the one whom all the nations desire will come. Then I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of Armies.
- Malachi 3:1“I’m going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way ahead of me. Then the Lord you are looking for will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the promise will come. He is the one you want,” says the Lord of Armies.
- John 2:19Jesus replied, “Tear down this temple, and I’ll rebuild it in three days.”
- Ephesians 2:20You are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself is the cornerstone.
- Colossians 2:9All of God lives in Christ’s body,
- 1 Peter 2:4You are coming to Christ, the living stone who was rejected by humans but was chosen as precious 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
In the dictionaries
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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
Commentaries