Jonah Flees the Presence of the Lord

1 Now the word of the Lord came to ^(A)Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ² “Arise, go to ^(B)Nineveh, that ^(C)great city, and call out against it, ^(D)for their evil^[a] has come up before me.” ³ But Jonah ^(E)rose to flee to ^(F)Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to ^(G)Joppa and found a ship going to ^(H)Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to ^(I)Tarshish, ^(J)away from the presence of the Lord.

⁴ But ^(K)the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened ^(L)to break up. ⁵ Then the mariners were afraid, and ^(M)each cried out to his god. And ^(N)they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. ⁶ So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, ^(O)call out to your god! ^(P)Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”

Jonah Is Thrown into the Sea

⁷ And they said to one another, “Come, let us ^(Q)cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. ⁸ Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” ⁹ And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear ^(R)the Lord, the God of heaven, ^(S)who made the sea and the dry land.” ¹⁰ Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that ^(T)he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

¹¹ Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. ¹² He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, ^(U)for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” ¹³ Nevertheless, the men rowed hard^[b] to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. ¹⁴ Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and ^(V)lay not on us innocent blood, ^(W)for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” ¹⁵ So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, ^(X)and the sea ceased from its raging. ¹⁶ Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, ^(Y)and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord ^(Z)and made vows.

A Great Fish Swallows Jonah

^17 [c] And the Lord appointed^[d] a great fish to swallow up Jonah. ^(AA)And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Jonah's Prayer

2 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, ² saying,

¹⁰ And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

The Parable of the Tenants

12 ^(A)And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted ^(B)a vineyard ^(C)and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and ^(D)leased it to tenants and ^(E)went into another country. ² When the season came, he sent a servant^[a] to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. ^3 (F)And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ^4 (G)Again ^(H)he sent to them another servant, and ^(I)they struck him on the head and ^(J)treated him shamefully. ^5 (K)And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. ⁶ He had still one other, ^(L)a beloved son. ^(M)Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷ But those tenants said to one another, ^(N)‘This is the heir. Come, ^(O)let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸ And they took him and killed him and ^(P)threw him out of the vineyard. ⁹ What will the owner of the vineyard do? ^(Q)He will ^(R)come and destroy the tenants and ^(S)give the vineyard to others. ^10 (T)Have you not read ^(U)this Scripture:

¹² And ^(W)they were seeking to arrest him ^(X)but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they ^(Y)left him and went away.

Paying Taxes to Caesar

^13 (Z)And they sent to him some of ^(AA)the Pharisees and some of ^(AB)the Herodians, to ^(AC)trap him in his talk. ¹⁴ And they came and said to him, “Teacher, ^(AD)we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion. For ^(AE)you are not swayed by appearances,^[c] but truly teach ^(AF)the way of God. Is it lawful to pay ^(AG)taxes to ^(AH)Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” ¹⁵ But, knowing ^(AI)their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why ^(AJ)put me to the test? Bring me ^(AK)a denarius^[d] and let me look at it.” ¹⁶ And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar's.” ¹⁷ Jesus said to them, ^(AL)“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” And they marveled at him.

The Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection

¹⁸ And ^(AM)Sadducees came to him, ^(AN)who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, ¹⁹ “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that ^(AO)if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man^[e] must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. ²⁰ There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. ²¹ And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. ²² And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. ²³ In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”

²⁴ Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because ^(AP)you know neither the Scriptures nor ^(AQ)the power of God? ²⁵ For when they rise from the dead, they neither ^(AR)marry nor ^(AS)are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. ²⁶ And as for the dead being raised, ^(AT)have you not read in ^(AU)the book of Moses, in ^(AV)the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ^(AW)‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? ²⁷ He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”

The Great Commandment

^28 (AX)And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” ²⁹ Jesus answered, “The most important is, ^(AY)‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, ^(AZ)the Lord is one. ³⁰ And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ^31 (BA)The second is this: ^(BB)‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment ^(BC)greater than these.” ³² And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that ^(BD)he is one, and ^(BE)there is no other besides him. ³³ And to love him with all the heart and with all ^(BF)the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, ^(BG)is much more than all ^(BH)whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” ³⁴ And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” ^(BI)And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Whose Son Is the Christ?

^35 (BJ)And as ^(BK)Jesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that ^(BL)the Christ is the son of David? ³⁶ David himself, ^(BM)in the Holy Spirit, declared,

³⁷ David himself calls him Lord. So ^(BP)how is he his son?” And the great throng ^(BQ)heard him gladly.

Beware of the Scribes

^38 (BR)And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces ³⁹ and have the best seats in the synagogues and ^(BS)the places of honor at feasts, ^40 (BT)who devour widows' houses and ^(BU)for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

The Widow's Offering

^41 (BV)And he sat down opposite ^(BW)the treasury and watched the people ^(BX)putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. ⁴² And a poor widow came and put in two ^(BY)small copper coins, which make a penny.^{[f] 43} And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, ^(BZ)this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. ⁴⁴ For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her ^(CA)poverty has put in everything she had, all ^(CB)she had to live on.”