Paying the Imperial Tax to Caesar^(A)

¹⁵ Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. ¹⁶ They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians.^(B) “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. ¹⁷ Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax^[a](C) to Caesar or not?”

¹⁸ But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? ¹⁹ Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, ²⁰ and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

²¹ “Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s,^(D) and to God what is God’s.”

²² When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.^(E)

The Plot Against Jesus^(A)

26 When Jesus had finished saying all these things,^(B) he said to his disciples, ² “As you know, the Passover^(C) is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”

³ Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled^(D) in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas,^{(E) 4} and they schemed to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him.^{(F) 5} “But not during the festival,” they said, “or there may be a riot^(G) among the people.”

³⁷ Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple,^(A) and each evening he went out^(B) to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives,^{(C) 38} and all the people came early in the morning to hear him at the temple.^(D)

Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus^(E)

22 Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching,^{(F) 2} and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus,^(G) for they were afraid of the people. ³ Then Satan^(H) entered Judas, called Iscariot,^(I) one of the Twelve. ⁴ And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard^(J) and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. ⁵ They were delighted and agreed to give him money.^{(K) 6} He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.