Mark 12:1–17

THE PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD OWNER

12He began to speak to them in parables:^ad “A man planted a vineyard,^ae put a fence around it, dug out a pit for a winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went away. ²At harvest time he sent^af a servant^ag to the farmers to collect some of the fruit^ah of the vineyard from them. ³But they took him, beat^ai him, and sent him away empty-handed.^{aj 4}Again he sent another servant to them, and they^A hit him on the head and treated him shamefully.^{B 5}Then he sent another, and they killed that one. He also sent many others; some they beat, and others they killed. ⁶He still had one to send, a beloved^ak son. Finally^al he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷But those tenant farmers said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. ⁹What then will the owner^Cam of the vineyard do? He will come and kill the farmers and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰Haven’t you read this Scripture:^an

The^ao stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone.^ap

¹¹This came about from the Lord^aq

and is wonderful in our eyes?”^D

¹²They were looking for a way to arrest him but feared the crowd because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. So they left him and went away.

GOD AND CAESAR

¹³Then^ar they sent some of the Pharisees^as and the Herodians^at to Jesus to trap him in his words.^{au 14}When they came, they said to him, “Teacher, we know you are truthful and don’t care what anyone thinks, nor do you show partiality^av but teach the way of God truthfully. Is it lawful to pay taxes^aw to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”

¹⁵But knowing their hypocrisy,^ax he said to them, “Why are you testing^ay me? Bring me a denarius^Eaz to look at.” ¹⁶They brought a coin. “Whose image^ba and inscription^bb is this?” he asked them.

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

¹⁷Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”^bc And they were utterly amazed^bd at him.