Matthew 12:4

12:4 how he entered the house of God and they ate ¹  the sacred bread, ²  which was against the law ³  for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests? ⁴ 

Matthew 20:8

20:8 When ⁵  it was evening ⁶  the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the workers and give the pay ⁷  starting with the last hired until the first.’

¹ 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).

² tn Grk “the bread of presentation.”

³ 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.

⁴ sn See 1 Sam 21:1-6.

⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁶ sn That is, six o’clock in the evening, the hour to pay day laborers. See Lev 19:13b.

⁷ tc ‡ Most witnesses (including B D W Θ Ë^1,13 33^vid Ï latt sy) have αὐτοῖς (autois, “to them”) after ἀπόδος (apodos, “give the pay”), but this seems to be a motivated reading, clarifying the indirect object. The omission is supported by א C L Z 085 Or. Nevertheless, NA²⁷ includes the pronoun on the basis of the greater external attestation.