Mark 12
12
The Story of the Renters
1Then Jesus began to speak to the people using stories. He said, “A man planted a vineyard, put up a wall around it, dug a pit for a winepress, and built a lookout tower. Then he rented the vineyard out to some farmers and moved to another place. 2When harvest time came, he sent a servant to the renters to collect some of the vineyard’s fruit from them. 3But they grabbed the servant, beat him up, and sent him away with nothing. 4So the man sent another servant to the renters. They hit that one over the head and treated him badly. 5The man sent a different servant, and the renters killed him. The man kept sending servants, but the renters beat some of them up and killed others.
6“The man had one person left to send. It was his son, who he loved. He finally sent him, thinking, ‘They’ll have to respect my son.’
7“But the renters said to each other, ‘This is the one who will receive all the owner’s property someday. Come on, let’s kill him, and then everything will be ours.’ 8So they took him and killed him and tossed his body out of the vineyard.
9“What will the owner of the vineyard do then? He’ll come and kill those renters and give the vineyard to others. 10Haven’t you read what this part of Scripture says?
“ ‘The stone that the builders didn’t accept
has become the most important stone of all.
11The Lord has done this,
and it’s wonderful to see.’ ”
12Then the chief priests, teachers of the law, and elders looked for a way to arrest Jesus, because they knew he’d told the story against them. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.
Is It Right to Pay the Royal Tax to Caesar?
13Later the religious leaders sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to see if they could trap him with his own words. 14They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you’re honest and that you don’t let other people tell you what to do or say, no matter how important they are. Instead, you teach the way of God truthfully. So, according to the law of Moses, is it right to pay the royal tax to Caesar, or not? 15Should we pay, or shouldn’t we?”
But Jesus knew they had bad motives for asking. So he responded, “Why are you trying to trap me? Bring me a silver coin and let me look at it.” 16They brought the coin and he asked them, “Whose picture is on this coin? And whose name and titles?”
“Caesar’s,” they answered.
17Then Jesus told them, “Return to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and return to God what belongs to God.”
They were amazed by this answer.
Marriage When the Dead Rise
18Then the Sadducees, who don’t believe that people rise from the dead, came to Jesus with a question. 19“Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote in the law that if a man dies without having any children, but he leaves a wife behind, his brother has to marry the widow so that she can have children to carry on her late husband’s name. 20There were seven brothers. The first one got married, but he died without having any children. 21The next brother married his widow, but he also died and left no children. The same thing happened to the third one, 22and in fact, all seven brothers were married to her, but none of them left any children. Last of all, the woman died herself. 23When the dead rise, whose wife will she be? All seven of them were married to her.”
24Jesus answered, “You’re going wrong here because you don’t know the Scriptures and you don’t know the power of God. 25When the dead rise, people won’t get married, and parents won’t arrange marriages for their children. Everyone will be like the angels in heaven. 26But as for whether people rise from the dead, haven’t you read the story of the burning bush in the Book of Moses? God said to Moses, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ 27So he isn’t the God of the dead; he’s the God of the living. You don’t even know where to start!”
The Most Important Commandment
28One of the teachers of the law had been listening to the discussion and he realized that Jesus had given a good answer. So he came up and asked him, “Which is the most important of all the commandments?”
29Jesus answered, “The most important one is, ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord is our God and the Lord is one. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31And there’s a second one: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ None of the other commandments are more important than these.”
32“That’s a good answer, teacher,” the man replied. “You’re right to say that God is one and there’s no other God but him. 33And to love God with all your heart and mind and strength, and to love your neighbor as you love yourself, is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34Jesus saw that the man had answered wisely, and he said to him, “You’re not far from the kingdom of God.” From then on, no one dared to ask Jesus any more questions.
Whose Son Is the Messiah?
35While Jesus was teaching in the temple courtyard, he asked, “Why do the teachers of the law say that the Messiah is the son of David? 36David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, said,
“ ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
under your control.” ’
37David calls the Messiah his ‘Lord.’ So how can he be David’s son?”
The large crowd listened to Jesus with delight.
Warning Against the Teachers of the Law
38As he taught, he said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in long robes, to be greeted with respect in the marketplace, 39and to have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 40But they cheat widows out of their houses and say long prayers just to show off. God will punish them very severely.”
The Widow’s Offering
41Jesus sat down across from the place where people gave their offerings at the temple. He watched as the crowd put their money into the offering boxes. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42But a poor widow came along and put in two very small copper coins that were worth only a few pennies.
43Jesus called over his disciples and said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the offering box than all the others. 44They gave a lot of money, but it was extra money they could afford to give. She gave even though she was poor. She put in all she had—everything she needed to live on.”
Currently Selected:
Mark 12: RAD
Highlight
Copy
Compare
Share
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Radiate™ New Testament
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998, 2014, 2020 by Biblica, Inc.
Used with permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Mark 12
12
The Story of the Renters
1Jesus began to speak to the people using stories. He said, “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it. He dug a pit for a winepress. He also built a lookout tower. He rented the vineyard out to some farmers. Then he went to another place. 2At harvest time he sent a servant to the renters. He told the servant to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3But they grabbed the servant and beat him up. Then they sent him away with nothing. 4So the man sent another servant to the renters. They hit this one on the head and treated him badly. 5The man sent still another servant. The renters killed him. The man sent many others. The renters beat up some of them. They killed the others.
6“The man had one person left to send. It was his son, and he loved him. He sent him last of all. He said, ‘They will respect my son.’
7“But the renters said to each other, ‘This is the one who will receive all the owner’s property someday. Come, let’s kill him. Then everything will be ours.’ 8So they took him and killed him. They threw him out of the vineyard.
9“What will the owner of the vineyard do then? He will come and kill those renters. He will give the vineyard to others. 10Haven’t you read what this part of Scripture says,
“ ‘The stone the builders didn’t accept
has become the most important stone of all.
11The Lord has done it.
It is wonderful in our eyes’?” (Psalm 118:22,23)
12Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest Jesus. They knew he had told the story against them. But they were afraid of the crowd. So they left him and went away.
Is It Right to Pay the Royal Tax to Caesar?
13Later the religious leaders sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus. They wanted to trap him with his own words. 14They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of honor. You don’t let other people tell you what to do or say. You don’t care how important they are. But you teach the way of God truthfully. Is it right to pay the royal tax to Caesar or not? 15Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”
But Jesus knew what they were trying to do. So he asked, “Why are you trying to trap me? Bring me a silver coin. Let me look at it.” 16They brought the coin. He asked them, “Whose picture is this? And whose words?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
17Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. And give back to God what belongs to God.”
They were amazed at him.
Marriage When the Dead Rise
18The Sadducees came to Jesus with a question. They do not believe that people rise from the dead. 19“Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us about a man who died and didn’t have any children. But he did leave a wife behind. That man’s brother must get married to the widow. He must provide children to carry on his dead brother’s name. 20There were seven brothers. The first one got married. He died without leaving any children. 21The second one got married to the widow. He also died and left no child. It was the same with the third one. 22In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. 23When the dead rise, whose wife will she be? All seven of them were married to her.”
24Jesus replied, “You are mistaken because you do not know the Scriptures. And you do not know the power of God. 25When the dead rise, they won’t get married. And their parents won’t give them to be married. They will be like the angels in heaven. 26What about the dead rising? Haven’t you read in the Book of Moses the story of the burning bush? God said to Moses, ‘I am the God of Abraham. I am the God of Isaac. And I am the God of Jacob.’ (Exodus 3:6) 27He is not the God of the dead. He is the God of the living. You have made a big mistake!”
The Most Important Commandment
28One of the teachers of the law came and heard the Sadducees arguing. He noticed that Jesus had given the Sadducees a good answer. So he asked him, “Which is the most important of all the commandments?”
29Jesus answered, “Here is the most important one. Moses said, ‘Israel, listen to me. The Lord is our God. The Lord is one. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your mind and with all your strength.’ (Deuteronomy 6:4,5) 31And here is the second one. ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ (Leviticus 19:18) There is no commandment more important than these.”
32“You have spoken well, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one. There is no other God but him. 33To love God with all your heart and mind and strength is very important. So is loving your neighbor as you love yourself. These things are more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34Jesus saw that the man had answered wisely. He said to him, “You are not far from God’s kingdom.” From then on, no one dared to ask Jesus any more questions.
Whose Son Is the Messiah?
35Jesus was teaching in the temple courtyard. He asked, “Why do the teachers of the law say that the Messiah is the son of David? 36The Holy Spirit spoke through David himself. David said,
“ ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
under your control.” ’ (Psalm 110:1)
37David himself calls him ‘Lord.’ So how can he be David’s son?”
The large crowd listened to Jesus with delight.
Warning Against the Teachers of the Law
38As he taught, he said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in long robes. They like to be greeted with respect in the market. 39They love to have the most important seats in the synagogues. They also love to have the places of honor at dinners. 40They take over the houses of widows. They say long prayers to show off. God will punish these men very much.”
The Widow’s Offering
41Jesus sat down across from the place where people put their temple offerings. He watched the crowd putting their money into the offering boxes. Many rich people threw large amounts into them. 42But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins. They were worth only a few pennies.
43Jesus asked his disciples to come to him. He said, “What I’m about to tell you is true. That poor widow has put more into the offering box than all the others. 44They all gave a lot because they are rich. But she gave even though she is poor. She put in everything she had. That was all she had to live on.”
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Copy
Compare
Share
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version®, NIrV®
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998, 2014 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.