Mark 12:1-27

Common English Bible

Parable of the tenant farmers

12 Jesus spoke to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the winepress, and built a tower. Then he rented it to tenant farmers and took a trip. ² When it was time, he sent a servant to collect from the tenants his share of the fruit of the vineyard. ³ But they grabbed the servant, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴ Again the landowner sent another servant to them, but they struck him on the head and treated him disgracefully. ⁵ He sent another one; that one they killed. The landlord sent many other servants, but the tenants beat some and killed others. ⁶ Now the landowner had one son whom he loved dearly. He sent him last, thinking, They will respect my son. ⁷ But those tenant farmers said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸ They grabbed him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

⁹ “So what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Haven’t you read this scripture, The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. ¹¹ The Lord has done this, and it’s amazing in our eyes?”^[a]

¹² They wanted to arrest Jesus because they knew that he had told the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.

A question about taxes

¹³ They sent some of the Pharisees and supporters of Herod to trap him in his words. ¹⁴ They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you’re genuine and you don’t worry about what people think. You don’t show favoritism but teach God’s way as it really is. Does the Law allow people to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay taxes or not?”

¹⁵ Since Jesus recognized their deceit, he said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a coin. Show it to me.” ¹⁶ And they brought one. He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

¹⁷ Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” His reply left them overcome with wonder.

A question about the resurrection

¹⁸ Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Jesus and asked, ¹⁹ “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a widow but no children, the brother must marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.^{[b] 20} Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman; when he died, he left no children. ²¹ The second married her and died without leaving any children. The third did the same. ²² None of the seven left any children. Finally, the woman died. ²³ At the resurrection, when they all rise up, whose wife will she be? All seven were married to her.”

²⁴ Jesus said to them, “Isn’t this the reason you are wrong, because you don’t know either the scriptures or God’s power? ²⁵ When people rise from the dead, they won’t marry nor will they be given in marriage. Instead, they will be like God’s angels. ²⁶ As for the resurrection from the dead, haven’t you read in the scroll from Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God said to Moses, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?^{[c] 27} He isn’t the God of the dead but of the living. You are seriously mistaken.”