Parable of the Vine-growers

12 ^(A)And He began to speak to them in parables: “^(B)A man ^(C)planted a vineyard and put a ^[a]fence around it, and dug a vat under the wine press and built a tower, and leased it to ^[b]vine-growers and went on a journey. ² And at the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive his share of the produce of the vineyard from the vine-growers. ³ And they took him, and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴ And again he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. ⁵ And he sent another, and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others. ⁶ He had one more man to send, a beloved son; he sent him to them last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷ But those vine-growers said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ ⁸ And they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. ⁹ What will the ^[c]owner of the vineyard do? He will come and put the vine-growers to death, and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Have you not even read this Scripture:

^12 (F)And they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the ^[e]people, for they understood that He told the parable against them. And so ^(G)they left Him and went away.

Jesus Answers the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes

^13 (H)Then they *sent some of the Pharisees and ^(I)Herodians to Him in order to ^(J)trap Him in a statement. ¹⁴ They came and *said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and ^[f]do not care what anyone thinks; for You ^[g]are not partial to anyone, but You teach the way of God in truth. Is it ^[h]permissible to pay a ^[i]poll-tax to Caesar, or not? ¹⁵ Are we to pay, or not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a ^[j]denarius to look at.” ¹⁶ And they brought one. And He *said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” And they said to Him, “Caesar’s.” ¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, “^(K)Pay to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were utterly amazed at Him.

^18 (L)Some Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection) *came to ^[k]Jesus, and began questioning Him, saying, ¹⁹ “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that ^(M)if a man’s brother dies and leaves behind a wife and does not leave a child, his brother is to ^[l]marry the wife and raise up ^[m]children for his brother. ²⁰ There were seven brothers; and the first took a wife, and died leaving no children. ²¹ The second one ^[n]married her, and died leaving behind no children; and the third likewise; ²² and so the seven together left no children. Last of all the woman also died. ²³ In the resurrection, which one’s wife will she be? For each of the seven had her as his wife.” ²⁴ Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not ^[o]understand the Scriptures nor the power of God? ²⁵ For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. ²⁶ But ^[p]regarding the fact that the dead rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, ^(N)in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘^(O)I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? ^27 (P)He is not the God ^[q]of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken.”

^28 (Q)One of the scribes came up and heard them arguing, and ^(R)recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the ^[r]foremost of all?” ²⁹ Jesus answered, “The ^[s]foremost is, ‘^(S)Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one; ^30 (T)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 The second is this: ‘^(U)You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” ³² And the scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher; You have truly stated that ^(V)He is One, and there is no other besides Him; ^33 (W)and to love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, ^(X)is much more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.” ³⁴ When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” ^(Y)And then, no one dared any longer to question Him.

^35 (Z)And Jesus responded and began saying, as He ^(AA)taught in the temple area, “How is it that the scribes say that the ^[t]Christ is the ^(AB)son of David? ³⁶ David himself said ^[u]in the Holy Spirit,

³⁷ David himself calls Him ‘Lord’; so in what sense is He his son?” And ^(AD)the large crowd ^[v]enjoyed listening to Him.

^38 (AE)And in His teaching He was saying: “Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like ^(AF)personal greetings in the marketplaces, ³⁹ and seats of honor in the synagogues, and places of honor at banquets, ^40 (AG)who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers. These will receive all the more condemnation.”

The Widow’s Coins

^41 (AH)And Jesus sat down opposite ^(AI)the treasury, and began watching how the ^[w]people were ^(AJ)putting ^[x]money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large amounts. ⁴² And a poor widow came and put in two ^[y]lepta coins, which amount to a ^[z]quadrans. ⁴³ Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all ^[aa]the contributors to the treasury; ⁴⁴ for they all put in out of their ^[ab]surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, ^[ac]all she had ^(AK)to live on.”