Mark 12

¹And he began to speak to them in parables . A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower , and leased it to tenants and went into another country .

²When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard .

³And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed .

⁴Again he sent to them another servant , and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully .

⁵And he sent another , and him they killed . And so with many others : some they beat , and some they killed .

⁶He had still one other, a beloved son . Finally he sent him to them , saying , They will respect my son .

⁷But those tenants said to one another , This is the heir . Come , let us kill him , and the inheritance will be ours .

⁸And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard .

⁹What will the owner of the vineyard do ? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others .

¹⁰Have you not read this Scripture : The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone ;

¹¹this was the Lord’s doing , and it is marvelous in our eyes ?

¹²And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people , for they perceived that he had told the parable against them . So they left him and went away .

¹³And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians , to trap him in his talk .

¹⁴And they came and said to him , Teacher , we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion . For you are not swayed by appearances , but truly teach the way of God . Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar , or not ? Should we pay them, or should we not ?

¹⁵But , knowing their hypocrisy , he said to them , Why put me to the test ? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.

¹⁶And they brought one. And he said to them , Whose likeness and inscription is this ? They said to him , Caesar’s .

¹⁷Jesus said to them , Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s , and to God the things that are God’s . And they marveled at him .

¹⁸And Sadducees came to him , who say that there is no resurrection . And they asked him a question , saying ,

¹⁹Teacher , Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife , but leaves no child , the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother .

²⁰There were seven brothers ; the first took a wife , and when he died left no offspring .

²¹And the second took her , and died , leaving no offspring . And the third likewise .

²²And the seven left no offspring . Last of all the woman also died .

²³In the resurrection , when they rise again, whose wife will she be ? For the seven had her as wife .

²⁴Jesus said to them , Is this not the reason you are wrong , because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God ?

²⁵For when they rise from the dead , they neither marry nor are given in marriage , but are like angels in heaven .

²⁶And as for the dead being raised , have you not read in the book of Moses , in the passage about the bush , how God spoke to him , saying , I am the God of Abraham , and the God of Isaac , and the God of Jacob ?

²⁷He is not God of the dead , but of the living . You are quite wrong .

²⁸And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well , asked him , Which commandment is the most important of all ?

²⁹Jesus answered , The most important is, Hear , O Israel : The Lord our God , the Lord is one .

³⁰And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength .

³¹The second is this : You shall love your neighbor as yourself . There is no other commandment greater than these .

³²And the scribe said to him , You are right , Teacher . You have truly said that he is one , and there is no other besides him .

³³And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength , and to love one’s neighbor as oneself , is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices .

³⁴And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely , he said to him , You are not far from the kingdom of God . And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions .

³⁵And as Jesus taught in the temple , he said , How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David ?

³⁶David himself , in the Holy Spirit , declared , The Lord said to my Lord , Sit at my right hand , until I put your enemies under your feet .

³⁷David himself calls him Lord . So how is he his son ? And the great throng heard him gladly .

³⁸And in his teaching he said , Beware of the scribes , who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces

³⁹and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts ,

⁴⁰who devour widows ’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers . They will receive the greater condemnation .

⁴¹And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box . Many rich people put in large sums .

⁴²And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins , which make a penny .

⁴³And he called his disciples to him and said to them , Truly , I say to you , this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box .

⁴⁴For they all contributed out of their abundance , but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had , all she had to live on .