Luke 20:27-38

New International Reader's Version

Marriage When the Dead Rise

²⁷ The Sadducees do not believe that people rise from the dead. Some of them came to Jesus with a question. ²⁸ “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us about a man’s brother who dies. Suppose the brother leaves a wife but has no children. Then the man must marry the widow. He must provide children to carry on his dead brother’s name. ²⁹ There were seven brothers. The first one married a woman. He died without leaving any children. ³⁰ The second one married her. ³¹ And then the third one married her. One after another, the seven brothers married her. They all died. None left any children. ³² Finally, the woman died too. ³³ Now then, when the dead rise, whose wife will she be? All seven brothers were married to her.”

³⁴ Jesus replied, “People in this world get married. And their parents give them to be married. ³⁵ But it will not be like that when the dead rise. Those who are considered worthy to take part in the world to come won’t get married. And their parents won’t give them to be married. ³⁶ They can’t die anymore. They are like the angels. They are God’s children. They will be given a new form of life when the dead rise. ³⁷ Remember the story of Moses and the burning bush. Even Moses showed that the dead rise. The Lord said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham. I am the God of Isaac. And I am the God of Jacob.’ (Exodus 3:6) ³⁸ He is not the God of the dead. He is the God of the living. In his eyes, everyone is alive.”