Matthew 5:25

5:25 Reach agreement ¹  quickly with your accuser while on the way to court, ²  or he ³  may hand you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the warden, and you will be thrown into prison.

Matthew 12:4

12:4 how he entered the house of God and they ate ⁴  the sacred bread, ⁵  which was against the law ⁶  for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests? ⁷ 

¹ tn Grk “Make friends.”

² tn The words “to court” are not in the Greek text but are implied.

³ tn Grk “the accuser.”

⁴ tc The Greek verb ἔφαγεν (efagen, “he ate”) is found in a majority of witnesses (Ì⁷⁰ C D L W Θ Ë^1,13 33 Ï latt sy co) in place of ἔφαγον (efagon, “they ate”), the wording found in א B pc. ἔφαγεν is most likely motivated by the parallels in Mark and Luke (both of which have the singular).

⁵ tn Grk “the bread of presentation.”

⁶ sn Jesus’ response to the charge that what his disciples were doing was against the law is one of analogy: “If David did it for his troops in a time of need, then so can I with my disciples.” Jesus is clear that on the surface there was a violation here. What is not as clear is whether he is arguing a “greater need” makes this permissible or that this was within the intention of the law all along.

⁷ sn See 1 Sam 21:1-6.