Mark 12:13–14:11

Taxes to Caesar

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

¹⁴And 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 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.”

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

¹⁷And 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.

The Sadducees and the Resurrection

^18aThen some Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection) ^*came to Jesus, and began questioning Him, saying,

¹⁹“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that ^aif a man’s brother dies and leaves behind a wife and leaves no child, his brother should ¹marry the wife and raise up a seed for his brother.

²⁰“There were seven brothers; and the first ¹married a wife, and died leaving no ²seed.

²¹“And the second one ¹married her, and died leaving behind no seed; and the third likewise;

²²and so ¹all seven left no seed. Last of all the woman died also.

²³“In the resurrection, ¹when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For ²all seven ³had married her.”

²⁴Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not ¹understand the Scriptures nor the power of God?

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

²⁶“But ¹regarding the fact that the dead are raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, ^ain the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘^bI am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?

²⁷“^aHe is not the God of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken.”

The Foremost Commandment

^28aAnd when one of the scribes came and heard them arguing, he ^brecognized that He had answered them well and asked Him, “What commandment is the ¹foremost of all?”

²⁹Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘^aHear, O Israel! The ¹Lord our God is one ²Lord;

^30aand you shall love the ¹Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’

³¹“The second is this, ‘^aYou shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

³²And the scribe said to Him, “Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that ^aHe is One, and there is no one else besides Him;

^33aand to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as himself, ^bis much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

³⁴And when Jesus saw that he had answered thoughtfully, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” ^aAfter that, no one would dare to ask Him any more questions.

^35aAnd Jesus began to say, as He ^btaught in the temple, “How is it that the scribes say that the ¹Christ is the ^cson of David?

³⁶“David himself said ¹in the Holy Spirit,

‘^aThe ²Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit at My right hand,

Until I put Your enemies beneath Your feet.” ’

³⁷“David himself calls Him ‘Lord’; so in what sense is He his son?” And ^athe large crowd ¹enjoyed listening to Him.

^38aAnd in His teaching He was saying: “Beware of the scribes who want to walk around in long robes, and want ^brespectful greetings in the marketplaces,

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

^40awho devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation.”

The Widow’s Offering

^41aAnd He sat down opposite ^bthe treasury, and began observing how the crowd was ^cputting ¹money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums.

⁴²And a poor widow came and put in two ¹lepta, which amount to a ²quadrans.

⁴³And calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all those putting money into the treasury;

⁴⁴for they all put in out of their ¹surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, ²all she had ^ato live on.”

CHAPTER 13

Signs of Christ’s Return

^1aAnd as He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples ^*said to Him, “Teacher, behold ¹what wonderful stones and ²what wonderful buildings!”

²And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? ^aNot one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.”

³And as He was sitting on ^athe Mount of Olives opposite the temple, ^bPeter and James and John and Andrew were questioning Him privately,

⁴“Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the ¹sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?”

⁵And Jesus began to say to them, “See to it that no one deceives you.

⁶“Many will come in My name, saying, ‘^aI am He!’ and will mislead many.

⁷“And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end.

⁸“For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pains.

⁹“But see to yourselves; for they will ^adeliver you to the ¹courts, and you will be beaten ^bin the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a witness to them.

¹⁰“^aAnd the gospel must first be proclaimed to all the nations.

¹¹“^aAnd when they lead you away, delivering you up, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given to you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit.

¹²“And brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and ¹have them put to death.

¹³“^aAnd you will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.

The Abomination of Desolation and the Tribulation

¹⁴“But ^awhen you see the ^babomination of desolation standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.

¹⁵“^aAnd the one who is on the housetop must not go down, or go in to get anything out of his house;

¹⁶and the one who is in the field must not turn back to get his garment.

¹⁷“But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!

¹⁸“But pray that it may not happen in the winter.

¹⁹“For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred ^asince the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will.

²⁰“And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no ¹life would have been saved; but for the sake of the ²elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days.

²¹“And then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the ¹Christ’; or, ‘Behold, He is there’; do not believe him;

²²for false christs and ^afalse prophets will arise, and will show ^1bsigns and ^cwonders, in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect.

²³“But as for you, see! I have told you everything in advance.

The Coming of the Son of Man

²⁴“But in those days, after that tribulation, ^athe sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light,

^25aand the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in ¹the heavens will be shaken.

²⁶“And then they will see ^athe Son of Man ^bcoming in clouds with great power and glory.

²⁷“And then He will send forth the angels, and ^awill gather together His ¹elect from the four winds, ^bfrom the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven.

The Parable of the Fig Tree

²⁸“Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.

²⁹“Even so, you too, when you see these things happening, ¹recognize that ²He is near, right at the ³door.

³⁰“Truly I say to you, this ¹generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

³¹“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

³²“^aBut of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

³³“See to it, ^akeep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time ¹will come.

³⁴“^aIt is like a man away on a journey, who, leaving his house and giving authority to his slaves—each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay awake.

³⁵“Therefore, ^astay awake—for you do not know when the ¹master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or ^bwhen the rooster crows, or ^cin the morning—

³⁶lest he come suddenly and find you ^asleeping.

³⁷“And what I say to you I say to all, ‘^aStay awake!’”

CHAPTER 14

The Plot to Kill Jesus

^1aNow ^bthe Passover and Unleavened Bread were two days away; and the chief priests and the scribes ^cwere seeking how, after seizing Him in secret, they might kill Him;

²for they were saying, “Not during the festival, lest there be a riot of the people.”

The Costly Perfume

^3aAnd while He was in ^bBethany at the home of Simon the leper, and reclining at the table, there came a woman with an alabaster jar of perfume of very ^ccostly pure ¹nard; and she broke the jar and poured it over His head.

⁴But some were indignantly remarking to one another, “Why has this perfume been wasted?

⁵“For this perfume might have been sold for over three hundred ¹denarii and given to the poor.” And they were scolding her.

⁶But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you bother her? She did a good work to Me.

⁷“For you always have ^athe poor with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me.

⁸“She has done what she could; ^ashe anointed My body beforehand for the burial.

⁹“And truly I say to you, ^awherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman did will also be spoken of in memory of her.”

^10aThen Judas Iscariot, ^bwho was one of the twelve, went away to the chief priests in order to ¹betray Him to them.

¹¹And…