Mark 12 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Then he began speaking to them using "A man planted a put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to and went away on a journey."
When harvest time came, he sent a to the tenants to collect his share of the vineyard's produce.
But they grabbed him, beat him up, and sent him away with nothing.
So he sent another servant to them. They hit this one in the head and treated him shamefully.
He sent still another, and they killed that one. He sent many more after that—some they beat up, others they killed.
He had one person left to send: his son, whom he He sent him last, thinking, "They will respect my son."
But those tenants said to each other, "This is the Come on, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours."
So they grabbed him, killed him, and threw his body out of the vineyard.
"So what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others."
"Haven't you even read this 'The stone that the builders rejected — this has become the
This came from the and it's an incredible thing to see."
The religious leaders wanted to arrest him because they knew he had told this illustration against them. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him alone and went away.
Then they sent some of the and to him to try to trap him with his own words.
They came and said to him, we know you're honest and don't care about anyone's approval. You don't play favorites — you genuinely teach God's way. So tell us: is it right to pay to or not? Should we pay, or shouldn't we?"
But Jesus saw right through their act. "Why are you trying to trap me?" he said. "Bring me a so I can look at it."
They brought one, and he asked them, "Whose is this? And whose name is on it?" "Caesar's," they answered.
Then Jesus said to them, to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God." They were completely amazed by him.
Then some came to him — they're the ones who say there's no — and they asked him a question:
"Teacher, for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man should the and have children for his brother."
Now, there were The first one married and died without leaving any children.
The second brother married her and also died without children. The same thing happened with the third.
In fact, none of the seven left any children. Finally, the woman herself died too.
"So in the resurrection, when they all rise, whose wife will she be? Because all seven were married to her."
Jesus said to them, "Isn't this exactly your problem — that you don't understand the Scriptures or the of God?"
When people rise from the dead, they don't marry or get married. They're like the in heaven.
And as for the dead actually rising — haven't you read in the of in the passage about the how God told him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?
He's not the of the dead — he's the of the You've got it completely wrong."
One of the had been listening to the debate. Seeing how well Jesus answered them, he approached and asked, "Which is the most important of all?"
Jesus answered, "The most important is: — the our God, the is
'And you must the Lord your God with your whole your whole your whole and all your
The second is this: 'Love your as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."
"Well said, Teacher," the legal expert replied. "You're right that God is one, and there is no other besides him."
"And to love him with your whole heart, your whole understanding, and all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself — that matters more than all the and
When Jesus saw how thoughtfully the man answered, he told him, "You're not far from the of After that, nobody dared to ask him any more questions.
While Jesus was teaching in the he raised this question: "How can the legal experts say that the is David's descendant?"
David himself, speaking through the of 'The to my "Sit at my until I put your enemies under your feet."'
David himself calls him 'Lord'—so how can he just be David's descendant?" The large crowd was listening to him with delight.
In his teaching he said, "Watch out for the legal experts. They love walking around in getting respectful greetings in the marketplaces,"
"the best seats in the and the places of honor at banquets."
"They and then put on a show with long prayers. These men will receive the harshest
Then Jesus sat down across from the and watched how the crowd was putting money into it. Many wealthy people were dropping in large amounts.
Then a poor widow came and put in — practically worthless.
Jesus called his disciples over and said to them, "I'm you the this poor widow has put in more than everyone else who contributed to the offering box."
Because they all gave out of their but she — out of poverty — put in everything she had,