Matthew 22:23–34

Some Sadducees Try to Trick Jesus

²³That same day some Sadducees came to Jesus and asked him a question. (Sadducees believed that people would not rise from the dead.) ²⁴They said, “Teacher, Moses said if a married man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for him. ²⁵Once there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died. Since he had no children, his brother married the widow. ²⁶Then the second brother also died. The same thing happened to the third brother and all the other brothers. ²⁷Finally, the woman died. ²⁸Since all seven men had married her, when people rise from the dead, whose wife will she be?”

²⁹Jesus answered, “You don’t understand, because you don’t know what the Scriptures say, and you don’t know about the power of God. ³⁰When people rise from the dead, they will not marry, nor will they be given to someone to marry. They will be like the angels in heaven. ³¹Surely you have read what God said to you about rising from the dead. ³²God said, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ ⁿ God is the God of the living, not the dead.”

³³When the people heard this, they were amazed at Jesus’ teaching.

The Most Important Command

³⁴When the Pharisees learned that the Sadducees could not argue with Jesus’ answers to them, the Pharisees met together.