Mark 11:27-12:37

English Standard Version

The Authority of Jesus Challenged

^27 (A)And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, ²⁸ and they said to him, ^(B)“By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” ²⁹ Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ³⁰ Was the baptism of John ^(C)from heaven or from man? Answer me.” ³¹ And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ^(D)‘Why then did you not believe him?’ ³² But shall we say, ‘From man’?”—^(E)they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was ^(F)a prophet. ³³ So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

The Parable of the Tenants

12 ^(G)And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted ^(H)a vineyard ^(I)and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and ^(J)leased it to tenants and ^(K)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 (L)And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ^4 (M)Again ^(N)he sent to them another servant, and ^(O)they struck him on the head and ^(P)treated him shamefully. ^5 (Q)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, ^(R)a beloved son. ^(S)Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷ But those tenants said to one another, ^(T)‘This is the heir. Come, ^(U)let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸ And they took him and killed him and ^(V)threw him out of the vineyard. ⁹ What will the owner of the vineyard do? ^(W)He will ^(X)come and destroy the tenants and ^(Y)give the vineyard to others. ^10 (Z)Have you not read ^(AA)this Scripture:

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

Paying Taxes to Caesar

^13 (AF)And they sent to him some of ^(AG)the Pharisees and some of ^(AH)the Herodians, to ^(AI)trap him in his talk. ¹⁴ And they came and said to him, “Teacher, ^(AJ)we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion. For ^(AK)you are not swayed by appearances,^[c] but truly teach ^(AL)the way of God. Is it lawful to pay ^(AM)taxes to ^(AN)Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” ¹⁵ But, knowing ^(AO)their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why ^(AP)put me to the test? Bring me ^(AQ)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, ^(AR)“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 ^(AS)Sadducees came to him, ^(AT)who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, ¹⁹ “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that ^(AU)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 ^(AV)you know neither the Scriptures nor ^(AW)the power of God? ²⁵ For when they rise from the dead, they neither ^(AX)marry nor ^(AY)are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. ²⁶ And as for the dead being raised, ^(AZ)have you not read in ^(BA)the book of Moses, in ^(BB)the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ^(BC)‘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 (BD)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, ^(BE)‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, ^(BF)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 (BG)The second is this: ^(BH)‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment ^(BI)greater than these.” ³² And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that ^(BJ)he is one, and ^(BK)there is no other besides him. ³³ And to love him with all the heart and with all ^(BL)the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, ^(BM)is much more than all ^(BN)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.” ^(BO)And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Whose Son Is the Christ?

^35 (BP)And as ^(BQ)Jesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that ^(BR)the Christ is the son of David? ³⁶ David himself, ^(BS)in the Holy Spirit, declared,

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