1He began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a pit for the winepress, and built a tower. He then rented it to tenant farmers and left for another country. 2When it was time, he sent a slave to the farmers to receive his share of the fruit of the vineyard. 3But they took the slave538, beat him, and sent him away empty. 4Again, the owner sent another slave to them, and they threw stones at him, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. 5Again he sent another; and they killed him along with many others, beating some, and killing some. 6The man still had one left to send, his beloved son. Finally, he sent him to them, saying: ‘They will respect my son!’ 7But the tenants of the vineyard saw him coming and said among themselves, ‘This is the heir! Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ 8They took him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 9What then will the lord539 of the vineyard do? He will come to destroy those farmers, and he will give the vineyard to others. 10Have you not even read this Scripture:
‘The very stone which the builders rejected,
Has become the head of the corner.
11This is the Lord’s doing,
And it is marvelous in our eyes?’540
The question of paying taxes to Caesar
12They kept trying to arrest Jesus, but they feared the multitude because they understood that he had spoken the parable against them. So they left him and went away. 13They sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus, in order to trap him in what he said. 14They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are truthful, and that you are not afraid of anyone because you do not look at human rank but truly teach the way of God. Tell us therefore,541 is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? 15Shall we give, or shall we not give?”
But knowing their hypocrisy, Jesus replied, “Why do you test me? Bring me a denarius, so that I may see it.”
16They brought it.
Jesus then asked them, “Whose image542 and inscription is this?”
They answered, “Caesar’s.”
17Jesus then replied to them, “Render543 to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.”
And they were amazed at him.
18After this, Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection) came to him. They asked him, 19”Teacher, Moses wrote to us, ‘If a man544 dies leaving a wife behind him but no children, his brother should take his wife, and raise up offspring for him.’545 20Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, died, and left no offspring. 21The second [brother] took her and [also] died, and left no children behind him, either. The third likewise; 22and so the seven [brothers] married her and left no children. Last of all, the woman also died. 23Therefore, in the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be? For the seven [brothers] had her as a wife.”
24Jesus answered them, “Is this not why you are mistaken, by not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God? 25For when people rise from the dead, they do not marry nor are given in marriage; instead, they are like angels in heaven. 26But regarding the fact that the dead are raised, have you not read in the book of Moses (in the passage about the bush), how God spoke to him, saying: ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’546 27He is not the God of the dead, but of the living! This is why you are greatly misled.”547
The greatest commandment
28One of the scribes came and heard them debating. Knowing that Jesus had answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the greatest of all?”
29Jesus answered him, “The greatest is, ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one: 30you 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.’548 This is the first commandment. 31And the second is likewise,549 ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’550 There is no other commandment greater than these.”
32The scribe said to him, “It is well, Teacher, that you have said truly that he is one, and there is none other but he, 33and to love him with the whole heart, with the whole mind, with the whole soul, and with the whole strength; and to love one’s neighbor as oneself. It is more important than any whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices.”
34When Jesus saw that the scribe had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God!”
No one dared to ask him any [other] question after that.
About David’s son—Warning about the scribes
35As he taught in the temple, Jesus asked, “How is it that the scribes say that the Christ551 is the son of David? 36For David himself said in the Holy Spirit:
The Lord said to my Lord,552
Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet.553
37Therefore, David himself calls him Lord, so how can he be his son?”
The large crowd listened to him with delight. 38In his teaching, he told them, “Beware of the scribes! They like to walk in long robes, to be greeted in the marketplace, 39and [to have] the best seats in the synagogues and at banquets. 40They devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense554 say long prayers. Such men will be punished most severely.”
The gift of the poor widow
41Jesus sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting their money into the treasury. Many who were rich gave much. 42A poor widow came, and she put in two small coins,555 which amount to a quadrans coin.556 43He called his disciples to himself, and told them, “Amen, I tell you that this poor widow gave more than all those [others] who are giving to the treasury. 44For they all gave out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on.”
The destruction of the Temple is foretold—The signs of the end
- Greek “him”
- Or “owner”
- Psalm 118:22-23/117 LXX
- Other manuscripts omit “Tell us therefore” (a harmonization of Matt 22:17)
- Greek eivkw.n
- Or “give back/return”
- Greek “man’s brother”
- Greek “his brother”
- Exodus 3:6
- Or “badly mistaken, greatly led astray”
- Deuteronomy 6:4-5
- CT omits “likewise.” The Greek work homoia conveys the idea of similarity or sameness.
- Leviticus 19:18
- Or “Messiah”—in Matthew (which is addressed to a Jewish readership), ‘Messiah’ in used for this particular verse (Matthew 22:42 EOB).
- Hebrew text: “YHWH said to my Lord (Adonai);” see comments on parallel text in Matthew
- Psalm 110:1/109 LXX
- Or “for a show, for a false motive”
- Literally, lepta (or widow’s mites). Lepta are very small brass coins worth half a quadrans each, which is a quarter of the copper assarion. Lepta are worth less than 1% of an agricultural worker’s daily wages.
- A quadrans is a coin worth about 1/64 of a denarius. A denarius is about one day’s wages for an agricultural laborer.
Text: The Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bible, New Testament (EOB). Used with permission.
