Mark 12:13–34

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.