Mark 12

Jesus began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the winepress, and built a tower. He leased it to tenants and went away. At the proper season, he sent a slave to the tenants to receive from them a share of the vineyard's fruit. But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent another slave to them. They wounded him in the head and treated him shamefully. He sent another, and they killed him. He sent many others; some they beat and some they killed. He still had one left, a beloved son. He sent him to them last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ They seized him, killed him, and threw him outside the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. Have you not even read this Scripture:
‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this came from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” They wanted to arrest him but were afraid of the crowd, for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them. So they left him and went away. They sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to him to trap him in what he said. They came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are truthful and are not swayed by anyone, for you show no partiality but teach the way of God truthfully. Is it lawful to pay the tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or should we not?” But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius so I can see it.” They brought one, and he said to them, “Whose image and inscription are these?” They said to him, “Caesar's.” Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.” They were greatly amazed at him. Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up offspring for his brother. There were seven brothers. The first married and died without leaving offspring. The second married her and died without leaving offspring, and the third did likewise. None of the seven left offspring. Last of all, the woman also died. In the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be? For all seven had her as their wife.” Jesus said to them, “Is this not why you are mistaken, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And concerning the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are greatly mistaken.” One of the scribes came up and heard them debating. Seeing that Jesus had answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” The scribe said to him, “Well said, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him, and that to love him with all the heart, with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to question him any further. As Jesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is David's son? David himself said by the Holy Spirit,
‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet.”’ David himself calls him Lord. How, then, is he his son?” The large crowd listened to him gladly. In his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, receive greetings in the marketplaces, and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows' houses and make long prayers for a pretense. They will receive a more severe condemnation.” He sat down opposite the treasury and watched how the crowd put money into it. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two lepta, which make one quadrans. He called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those putting money into the treasury. For they all gave out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Rights and attribution