Mark 12:18-27

Contemporary English Version

Life in the Future World

(Matthew 22.23-33; Luke 20.27-40)

^18 (A) The Sadducees did not believe that people would rise to life after death. So some of them came to Jesus and said:

^19 (B) Teacher, Moses wrote that if a married man dies and has no children, his brother should marry the widow. Their first son would then be thought of as the son of the dead brother. ²⁰ There were once seven brothers. The first one married, but died without having any children. ²¹ The second brother married his brother's widow, and he also died without having children. The same thing happened to the third brother, ²² and finally to all seven brothers. At last the woman died. ²³ When God raises people from death, whose wife will this woman be? After all, she had been married to all seven brothers.

²⁴ Jesus answered:

You are completely wrong! You don't know what the Scriptures teach. And you don't know anything about the power of God. ²⁵ When God raises people to life, they won't marry. They will be like the angels in heaven. ^26 (C) You surely know about people being raised to life. You know that in the story about Moses and the burning bush, God said, “I am the God worshiped by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”^{[a] 27} He isn't the God of the dead, but of the living. You Sadducees are all wrong.