Mark 12

Chapter 12

Parable of the Vine-growers

^1aAnd 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;

^11aThis came about from the Lord,

And it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

^12aAnd 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

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

¹⁴They 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.”

¹⁶They 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.

^18aSome 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 children to his brother.

²⁰“There were seven brothers; and the first took a wife, and died leaving no children.

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

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

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

²⁴Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not ¹understand the Scriptures or 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 rise again, 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 ¹of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken.”

^28aOne of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and ^brecognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the ¹foremost of all?”

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

^30aand 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.’

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

³²The 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.”

³⁴When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” ^aAfter that, no one would venture 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 ¹the Christ is the ^cson of David?

³⁶“David himself said ¹in the Holy Spirit,

‘^aThe Lord 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.

^38aIn His teaching He was saying: “Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like ^brespectful greetings in the market places,

³⁹and chief 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 Mite

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

⁴²A poor widow came and put in two ¹small copper coins, which amount to a ²cent.

⁴³Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all ¹the contributors to 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.”