Shared Word Translation
Mark 12
The Parable of the Tenants
And he began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went away. And at the season he sent a servant to the tenants to receive from the tenants some of the fruit of the vineyard. And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. And again he sent to them another servant; and that one they struck on the head and dishonored. And he sent another, and that one they killed; and many others, some they beat and some they killed.
He had yet one, a beloved son. He sent him to them last, 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.’
And taking him, they killed him and threw him out of the vineyard.
What then will the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others.
Have you not read this scripture:
‘The stone that the builders rejected,
this has become the cornerstone;
this came from the Lord,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
And they were seeking to seize him, but they feared the crowd, for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them. And leaving him, they went away.
Paying Taxes to Caesar
And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, so that they might trap him in speech. And coming, they said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care for anyone, for you do not look at the face of people, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? Should we give, or should we not give?” But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius, so that I may see it.” And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” And they said to him, “Caesar’s.” And Jesus said to them, “The things of Caesar give back to Caesar, and the things of God to God.” And they were amazed at him.
The Sadducees Ask About Resurrection
And Sadducees came to him, who say there is no resurrection, and they asked him, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves behind a wife, and leaves no child, his brother should take the wife and raise up seed for his brother. There were seven brothers; and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed. And the second took her and died, leaving no seed; and the third likewise. And the seven left no seed. Last of all, the woman also died. In the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as 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 the heavens. But concerning the dead, that they are 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 and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are greatly mistaken.”
The Greatest Commandment
And one of the scribes came near, hearing them disputing, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God from all your heart and from all your soul and from all your mind and from all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
And the scribe said to him, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken according to truth, that he is one, and there is no other besides him; and to love him from the whole heart and from the whole understanding and from the whole strength, and to love the neighbor as oneself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And Jesus, seeing that he answered thoughtfully, said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one any longer dared to ask him a question.
Whose Son Is the Christ?
And answering, Jesus said, as he was teaching in the temple, “How do the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?
David himself said by the Holy Spirit,
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet.’
David himself calls him Lord; so how is he his son?” And the great crowd heard him gladly.
Warning Against the Scribes
And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who desire to walk around in long robes and receive greetings in the marketplaces and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows’ houses and for appearance make long prayers. These will receive greater judgment.”
The Widow’s Offering
And sitting opposite the treasury, he was watching how the crowd was putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in much. And one poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a quadrans. And calling his disciples to him, he said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those putting into the treasury. For they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in everything she had, her whole life.”