Mark 12

Jesus Questioned about His Authority (11:27–12:12)

27 And they come again to Jerusalem. And as he is walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scriptorians and the elders come to him. 28 And they were saying to him, “By what authority are you doing these things? Or, who gave you this authority, that you should do these things?” 29 But Jesus was saying to them, “I will ask you one thing, and if you answer me, then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 The baptism of John: was it from heaven, or from humans? Answer me.” 31 And they were reasoning with each other, saying, “If we say from heaven, he will say, ‘Then why did you not trust him?’ 32 But if we should say from humans . . .”—they feared the crowd, for all held that John indeed was a prophet. 33 And answering Jesus, they say, “We do not know.” And Jesus says to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

12:1 And he began to say to them in parables, “A man planted a vineyard and placed around it a wall and dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower and rented it to tenant farmers and went on a journey. 2 And he sent a slave to the tenant farmers at the right time, so that he might receive the fruits of the vineyard from the tenant farmers. 3 But seizing him, they beat him and sent him away with nothing. 4 And again he sent another slave to them; this one they beat on the head and treated shamefully. 5 And he sent another, and this one they killed. And many others, beating some and killing others. 6 Yet having one beloved son, he sent him to them last, saying, ‘They will have respect for my son.’ 7 But those tenant farmers said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 And seizing him, they killed him and cast him out of the vineyard. 9 So what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and will destroy the tenants and will give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not even read this scripture:

          ‘The stone the builders rejected
          has become the cornerstone.
11     This was from the Lord,
          and it is wonderful in our eyes’?”

12 And they wanted to arrest him—but they feared the crowd—for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them. And having left him, they went away.

Jesus Questioned about Paying Taxes (12:13–17)

13 And they send to him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, so that they might trap him in his words. 14 And having come, they say to him, “Teacher, we know that you are truthful and do not cater to anyone, for you are impartial, but with truth you teach the way of God. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or not pay?” 15 And knowing of their pretending, he said to them, “Why do you test me? Bring me a coin, so that I might see it.” 16 And they brought it. And he says to them, “Whose image is this? And the inscription?” And they said to him, “Caesar’s.” 17 And Jesus said to them, “The things of Caesar you give to Caesar, and the things of God [you give] to God.” And they were amazed at him.

Jesus Questioned about Resurrection (12:18–27)

18 And Sadducees—who say there is no resurrection—come to him. And they were questioning him, saying, 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, ‘If a man’s brother should die and leave behind a wife and not leave children, he should marry his brother’s wife, and he should raise children for his brother.’ 20 There were seven brothers, and the first took a wife and, dying, left no children. 21 And the second took her and died, not having left children, and the third, the same. 22 And none of the seven had children. And last of all, the woman died. 23 In the resurrection whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as a wife.” 24 Jesus said to them, “Aren’t you mistaken because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God? 25 For when they rise from the dead, they do not marry nor are they given in marriage but are like angels in heaven. 26 Now as for the dead—that they are raised—have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the [burning] bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?’ 27 He is not the God of the dead but of the living. [So] you are very mistaken.”

Jesus Questioned about the Commandments (12:28–34)

28 And having come up, one of the scriptorians having heard them reasoning together, having known that he answered them well, he asked him, “Which is the first commandment of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And 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: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 And the scriptorian said to him, “Right, teacher, you have spoken truthfully that ‘he is one and there is no one else besides him.’ 33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love a neighbor as oneself is more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And Jesus, having seen that he answered wisely, said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared any longer to question him.

Jesus Questions the Scribes (12:35–37)

35 While teaching in the temple, answering, Jesus said, “Why do the scriptorians say that the anointed one is a son of David? 36 David himself said by the Holy Spirit,

          ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
          “Sit at my right hand
          until I place your enemies under your feet.”’

37 “David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son?” And the large crowd happily heard him.

Jesus Praises the Widow (12:38–44)

38 And in his teaching, he said, “Watch out for the scriptorians who like walking around in long robes and greetings in the markets, 39 the first seats in the synagogues and the first places at banquets, 40 the ones consuming the property of widows and, on a pretext, [making] long prayers. These will be more harshly punished.” 41 And having sat down opposite the temple treasury, he watched the crowd put money into the treasury, and many rich people were putting in much. 42 And having come, one poor widow put in two coins, which equals less than a penny. 43 And having called his disciples to him, he says to them, “Amen, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all of those [who are] putting in to the treasury, 44 for they put in out of their abundance. However, she put in out of her poverty as much as she had—her whole life.”