Mark 12:18-30

English Standard Version

The Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection

¹⁸And ^(A)Sadducees came to him, ^(B)who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, ¹⁹“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that ^(C)if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man^[a] must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. ²⁰There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. ²¹And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. ²²And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. ²³In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”

²⁴Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because ^(D)you know neither the Scriptures nor ^(E)the power of God? ²⁵For when they rise from the dead, they neither ^(F)marry nor ^(G)are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. ²⁶And as for the dead being raised, ^(H)have you not read in ^(I)the book of Moses, in ^(J)the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ^(K)‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? ²⁷He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”

The Great Commandment

²⁸^(L)And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” ²⁹Jesus answered, “The most important is, ^(M)‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, ^(N)the Lord is one. ³⁰And 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.’