Mark 12:18-37
Evangelical Heritage Version
The God of the Living
18 Next some Sadducees (who say that there will be no resurrection) came to him. They asked him a question: 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us: ‘If a man’s brother dies and leaves behind a wife but no child, then his brother should take his wife and raise up children for his brother.’[a]
20 “Now there were seven brothers. The first one took a wife and died without leaving children. 21 The second one married her and died, leaving no children. The third one did the same. 22 The seven left no children. Last of all, the woman also died. 23 So when they rise in the resurrection, whose wife will she be, since all seven had her as a wife?”
24 Jesus said to them, “Isn’t this the reason you are mistaken: that you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 25 In fact, when people rise from the dead, they do not marry, and they are not given in marriage, but they are like angels in heaven. 26 But about the dead—that they are raised—have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God told him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?[b] 27 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken.”
Love God and Your Neighbor
28 One of the experts in the law approached after he heard their discussion. When he saw that Jesus had answered them well, he asked Jesus, “Which commandment is the greatest of all?”
29 Jesus answered, “The most important is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one. 30 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’[c] 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’[d] There is no other commandment greater than these.”
32 The expert in the law said to him, “Well said, teacher. You have spoken correctly on the basis of the truth that he is one, and there is no other besides him.[e] 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, is more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”[f]
34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.
David’s Son and David’s Lord
35 While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he responded by saying, “How is it that the experts in the law say that the Christ is the Son of David? 36 David himself said by the Holy Spirit:
The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies a footstool under your feet.’[g]
37 “David himself calls him Lord, so how can he be his son?” The large crowd listened to him with delight.
Read full chapterThe Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.