Verse Lens · Context pointer
Matthew 12:4 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 4. 4How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
Recalls David entering God's house and eating bread reserved for priests.
Read It With
- Matthew 12:1–12:8
Read Matthew 12:4 with 12:1–12:8. In isolation, this verse's contribution—recalls David entering God's house and eating bread reserved for priests—can be detached from its speaker, audience, narrative or teaching sequence, and outcome. The complete unit establishes: Disciples pluck grain on the Sabbath, Jesus answers Pharisaic criticism with David, priestly service, temple, Hosea's mercy, and the Son of man's Sabbath authority.
Why It Needs Context
Recalls David entering God's house and eating bread reserved for priests. Its force depends on the complete movement and outcome of Matthew 12:1–12:8; the isolated line is connective rather than a complete teaching claim.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Matthew 12:1–12:8 — Sabbath hunger meets mercy and lordshipSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Matthew 12:1–12:8, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording and punctuation control without treating one edition as a complete apparatus.
Exact location: SBLGNT official text file data/sblgnt/text/Matt.txt, Matthew 12:1–12:8
Open the Matthew Greek text file ↗