He began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug out a pit for a winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went away.
“At harvest time he sent a servant to the farmers to collect some of the fruit of the vineyard from them.
“Then he sent another, and they killed that one. He also sent many others; some they beat, and others they killed.
“He still had one to send, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
“But those tenant farmers said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’
“Haven’t you read this Scripture:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
They were looking for a way to arrest him but feared the crowd because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. So they left him and went away.
Then they sent some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to Jesus to trap him in his words.
When they came, they said to him, “Teacher, we know you are truthful and don’t care what anyone thinks, nor do you show partiality but teach the way of God truthfully. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we? ”
They brought a coin. “Whose image and inscription is this? ” he asked them.
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were utterly amazed at him.
“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife behind but no child, that man should take the wife and raise up offspring for his brother.
“There were seven brothers. The first married a woman, and dying, left no offspring.
“The second also took her, and he died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise.
Jesus spoke to them, “Isn’t this the reason why you’re mistaken: you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God?
“For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels in heaven.
“And as for the dead being raised — haven’t you read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God said to him: I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?
One of the scribes approached. When he heard them debating and saw that Jesus answered them well, he asked him, “Which command is the most important of all? ”
“The second is, Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these.”
Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, teacher. You have correctly said that he is one, and there is no one else except him.
When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to question him any longer.
While Jesus was teaching in the temple, he asked, “How can the scribes say that the Messiah is the son of David?
“David himself says by the Holy Spirit:
The Lord declared to my Lord,
‘Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies under your feet.’
“David himself calls him ‘Lord.’ How, then, can he be his son? ” And the large crowd was listening to him with delight.
He also said in his teaching, “Beware of the scribes, who want to go around in long robes and who want greetings in the marketplaces,
“They devour widows’ houses and say long prayers just for show. These will receive harsher judgment.”
Sitting across from the temple treasury, he watched how the crowd dropped money into the treasury. Many rich people were putting in large sums.
Summoning his disciples, he said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.
Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017, 2020 by Holman Bible Publishers.
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For more information on this translation, see the CSB Preface.
