1It happened on one of those days, as he was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the Good News, that the 893priests and scribes came to him with the presbyters. 2They asked him, “Tell us: by what authority do you do these things? Who is giving you this authority?”
3He answered them, “I too will ask you one question. Tell me: 4the baptism of John, was it from heaven,894 or from men?”
5They discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will reply, ‘Why then did not you believe him?’ 6But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us because they are convinced that John was a prophet.” 7So they answered that they did not know where it was from.
8Then Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
The parable of the tenant farmers
9He began to tell the people this parable. “A certain man planted a vineyard, and rented it out to some farmers, and went into another country for a long time. 10At the proper season, he sent a slave to the farmers to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But the farmers beat the servant and sent him away with nothing.895 11The owner896 then sent to them897 yet another slave, and they also beat him, treated him with contempt, and sent him away empty. 12He sent yet a third [servant], and they also wounded him, and threw him out. 13Then the lord of the vineyard thought, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son! It may be that seeing him, they will respect him.’
14But when the farmers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying: ‘This is the heir! Come, let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ 15So, they threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now what will the lord of the vineyard do to them? 16He will come and destroy these farmers, and he will give the vineyard to others.”
When the people898 heard this, they exclaimed, “May it never be!”
17But Jesus looked at them and said, “Then what is this that is written:
‘The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone?’899
18Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces,
and it will crush to dust whoever it falls on.
About paying taxes to Caesar
19The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to lay hands on him that very hour, but they feared the people because they knew that he spoke parables against them. 20They watched him and sent out spies who pretended to be righteous in order to trap him in something he might say, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. 21They asked him, “Teacher, we know that you say and teach what is right, and that you are not partial to anyone but truly teach the way of God. 22Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
23But Jesus perceived their trickery and said to them, “Why are you testing me?900 24Show me a denarius! Whose image and inscription are on it?”
They answered, “Caesar’s.”
25So Jesus said to them, “Then give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and [give] to God what belongs to God!”
26And they were not able to ensnare him in his words before the people. They marveled at his answer and remained silent.
The Sadducees question the resurrection
27Some of the Sadducees came to him, those who say there is no resurrection. 28They asked him, “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man dies having a wife and he dies without children, his brother should take the wife and raise up a posterity for his brother. 29There were therefore seven brothers: the first took a wife and died childless. 30The second took her as wife,901 and he [also] died childless. 31The third took her, and likewise all seven [brothers] left no children and died. 32Afterwards, the woman also died. 33Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife is she? For the seven had her as wife.”
34Jesus answered and said to them, “The children of this age get married and are given in marriage. 35But those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead do not marry or are given in marriage. 36They cannot die any more, because they are like the angels, and they are children of God, being children of the resurrection. 37But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed in the [story of the burning] bush, when he called the Lord ‘The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’902 38Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, because all are alive to him!”
39Some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you speak well!” 40After that, they did not dare to ask him any more questions.
About David’s son
41Jesus asked them, “Why do they say that the Christ is David’s son? 42David himself says in the book of Psalms,
‘The Lord903 said to my Lord,904
Sit at my right hand,
43until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet.’905
44David therefore calls him Lord, so how is he his son?”
45While all the people were listening, Jesus906 said to his disciples, 46”Beware of the scribes who like to walk in long robes and who love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts. 47They907 devour the houses of widows and for a pretense say long prayers: they will receive greater condemnation!”
The gift of the poor widow
- CT and TR add “chief”
- A common Jewish circumlocution to avoid direct references to God and his Name
- Or “empty”
- Greek “he”
- Other manuscripts omit “to them”
- Greek “they”
- Psalm 118:22/117 LXX
- CT omits “Why are you testing me?”
- CT omits the second part of this verse and continues with verse 31
- Exodus 3:6
- Hebrew “YHWH”
- Hebrew “Adonai”
- Psalm 110:1/109 LXX
- Greek “he”
- Greek “who”
Text: The Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bible, New Testament (EOB). Used with permission.
