Mark 12  Legacy Standard Bible

Parable of the Vine-Growers

12 ^(A)And He began to speak to them in parables: “^(B)A man ^(C)planted a vineyard and put a ^[a]wall around it, and dug a vat under the wine press and built a tower, and rented it out to ^[b]vine-growers and went on a journey. ² And at the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vine-growers. ³ And they took him, and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴ And 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, 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 And they took him, and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. ⁹ What will the ^[c]owner 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:

^12 (F)And they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the crowd, for they understood that He spoke the parable against them. And so ^(G)they left Him and went away.

Taxes to Caesar

^13 (H)Then they *sent some of the Pharisees and ^(I)Herodians to Him in order to ^(J)trap Him in a statement. ¹⁴ And they *came and *said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and ^[e]defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it ^[f]lawful 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 ^[g]denarius to look at.” ¹⁶ And they brought one. And He *said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” And they said to Him, “Caesar’s.” ¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, “^(K)Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they ^[h]were amazed at Him.

The Sadducees and the Resurrection

^18 (L)Then some Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection) *came to Jesus, and began questioning Him, saying, ¹⁹ “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that ^(M)if a man’s brother dies and leaves behind a wife and leaves no child, his brother should ^[i]marry the wife and raise up a seed for his brother. ²⁰ There were seven brothers; and the first ^[j]married a wife, and died leaving no ^[k]seed. ²¹ And the second one ^[l]married her, and died leaving behind no seed; and the third likewise; ²² and so ^[m]all seven left no seed. Last of all the woman died also. ²³ In the resurrection, ^[n]when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For ^[o]all seven ^[p]had married her.” ²⁴ Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not ^[q]understand 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 ^[r]regarding the fact that the dead are raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, ^(N)in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘^(O)I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? ^27 (P)He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken.”

The Foremost Commandment

^28 (Q)And when one of the scribes came and heard them arguing, he ^(R)recognized that He had answered them well and asked Him, “What commandment is the ^[s]foremost of all?” ²⁹ Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘^(S)Hear, O Israel! The ^[t]Lord our God is one ^[u]Lord; ^30 (T)and you shall love the ^[v]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, ‘^(U)You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” ³² And the scribe said to Him, “Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that ^(V)He is One, and there is no one else besides Him; ^33 (W)and 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, ^(X)is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” ³⁴ And when Jesus saw that he had answered thoughtfully, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” ^(Y)After that, no one would dare to ask Him any more questions.

^35 (Z)And Jesus began to say, as He ^(AA)taught in the temple, “How is it that the scribes say that the ^[w]Christ is the ^(AB)son of David? ³⁶ David himself said ^[x]in the Holy Spirit,

³⁷ David himself calls Him ‘Lord’; so in what sense is He his son?” And ^(AD)the large crowd ^[z]enjoyed listening to Him.

^38 (AE)And in His teaching He was saying: “Beware of the scribes who want to walk around in long robes, and want ^(AF)respectful greetings in the marketplaces, ³⁹ and best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, ^40 (AG)who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation.”

The Widow’s Offering

^41 (AH)And He sat down opposite ^(AI)the treasury, and began observing how the crowd was ^(AJ)putting ^[aa]money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. ⁴² And a poor widow came and put in two ^[ab]lepta, which amount to a ^[ac]quadrans. ⁴³ And calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all those putting money into the treasury; ⁴⁴ for they all put in out of their ^[ad]surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, ^[ae]all she had ^(AK)to live on.”