Mark 12:1–17

Parable of the Vine-growers

1 aAnd He began to speak to them in parables: “bA man cplanted a vineyard and put a 1wall around it, and dug a vat under the wine press and built a tower, and rented it out to 2vine-growers and went on a journey.

2 “At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine-growers.

3 “They took him, and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

4 “Again he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully.

5 “And he sent another, and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others.

6 “He had one more to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

7 “But those vine-growers said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’

8 “They took him, and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard.

9 “What will the 1owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine-growers, and will give the vineyard to others.

10 “Have you not even read this Scripture:

‘aThe stone which the builders rejected,

This became the chief corner stone;

11 aThis came about from the Lord,

And it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

12 aAnd they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the 1people, for they understood that He spoke the parable against them. And so bthey left Him and went away.

Jesus Answers the Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes

13 aThen they * sent some of the Pharisees and bHerodians to Him in order to ctrap Him in a statement.

14 They * came and * said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and 1defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it 2lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?

15 “Shall we pay or shall we not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a 1denarius to look at.”

16 They brought one. And He * said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” And they said to Him, “Caesar’s.”

17 And Jesus said to them, “aRender to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they 1were amazed at Him.