Bible Strands
Luke 6:3
Jesus replied, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus speaks to the Pharisees at the moment they confront him about breaking Sabbath regulations by allowing his disciples to pick grain.
The words — ἀποκριθεὶς (apokritheis) means answering, and οὐδὲ (oude) functions as a negative particle introducing a rhetorical challenge to their knowledge of Scripture.
The thread — This appeal to David’s actions appears in Matthew 12:3, Mark 2:25, and traces back to the historical account in 1 Samuel 21:3.
Why it lands — The text records Jesus pointing to a precedent where necessity overrode ritual restriction, requiring the reader to decide whether to accept his authority to interpret the law.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And Jesus answering them said, Have ye not read so much as this, what David did, when himself was an hungred, and they which were with him;
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 21:3 Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found.”
- Mark 2:25 Jesus replied, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?
- Matthew 12:3 Jesus replied, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?
- Matthew 21:16 “Do You hear what these children are saying?” they asked. “Yes,” Jesus answered. “Have you never read: ‘From the mouths of children and infants You have ordained praise’?”
- Mark 12:10 Have you never read this Scripture: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
- Mark 12:26 But concerning the dead rising, have you not read about the burning bush in the Book of Moses, how God told him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?
- Matthew 22:31 But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what God said to you:
- Matthew 19:4 Jesus answered, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’
- Matthew 21:42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?