While Jesus and his disciples are walking through grainfields, some Pharisees begin to question the disciples about what they are doing on the Sabbath, which, in God's law, has been set aside for God.
This phrase is used here to mark the beginning of a new part of the story. If your language has a way for doing this, you can consider using it here. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/writing-newevent]])
In this case, these are large sections of land where the people had scattered wheat seed to grow more wheat.
# heads of grain
This is the topmost part of the grain plant, which is a kind of large grass. It holds the mature, edible seeds of the plant.
# rubbing them between their hands
They did this to separate the grain seeds. This can be stated clearly. AT: "They rubbed them in their hands to separate the grains from the husks" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-explicit]])
# Why are you doing something that is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day?
They asked this question to accuse the disciples of breaking the law. It can be written as a statement. AT: "Picking grain on the Sabbath is against God's law!" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-rquestion]])
The Pharisees considered even the small action of rubbing a handful of grain to be unlawful work. This can be stated clearly. AT: "doing work" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-explicit]])
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