Esau’s Descendants^(A)(B)

36 This is the account^(C) of the family line of Esau (that is, Edom).^(D)

⁹ This is the account^(T) of the family line of Esau the father of the Edomites^(U) in the hill country of Seir.

¹⁵ These were the chiefs^(AF) among Esau’s descendants:

¹⁹ These were the sons of Esau^(AP) (that is, Edom),^(AQ) and these were their chiefs.^(AR)

²⁰ These were the sons of Seir the Horite,^(AS) who were living in the region:

The Rulers of Edom^(BC)

³¹ These were the kings who reigned in Edom before any Israelite king^(BD) reigned:

⁴⁰ These were the chiefs^(BJ) descended from Esau, by name, according to their clans and regions:

This is the family line of Esau, the father of the Edomites.^(BK)

Joseph’s Dreams

37 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed,^(A) the land of Canaan.^(B)

² This is the account^(C) of Jacob’s family line.

Joseph,^(D) a young man of seventeen,^(E) was tending the flocks^(F) with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah^(G) and the sons of Zilpah,^(H) his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report^(I) about them.

³ Now Israel^(J) loved Joseph more than any of his other sons,^(K) because he had been born to him in his old age;^(L) and he made an ornate^[a] robe^(M) for him.^{(N) 4} When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him^(O) and could not speak a kind word to him.

⁵ Joseph had a dream,^(P) and when he told it to his brothers,^(Q) they hated him all the more.^{(R) 6} He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: ⁷ We were binding sheaves^(S) of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”^(T)

⁸ His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?”^(U) And they hated him all the more^(V) because of his dream and what he had said.

⁹ Then he had another dream,^(W) and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars^(X) were bowing down to me.”^(Y)

¹⁰ When he told his father as well as his brothers,^(Z) his father rebuked^(AA) him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?”^{(AB) 11} His brothers were jealous of him,^(AC) but his father kept the matter in mind.^(AD)

Joseph Sold by His Brothers

¹² Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem,^{(AE) 13} and Israel^(AF) said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem.^(AG) Come, I am going to send you to them.”

“Very well,” he replied.

¹⁴ So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers^(AH) and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron.^(AI)

When Joseph arrived at Shechem, ¹⁵ a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”

¹⁶ He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?”

¹⁷ “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.^(AJ)’”

So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. ¹⁸ But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.^(AK)

¹⁹ “Here comes that dreamer!^(AL)” they said to each other. ²⁰ “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns^(AM) and say that a ferocious animal^(AN) devoured him.^(AO) Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”^(AP)

²¹ When Reuben^(AQ) heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said.^{(AR) 22} “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern^(AS) here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.^(AT)

²³ So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe^(AU) he was wearing— ²⁴ and they took him and threw him into the cistern.^(AV) The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

²⁵ As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites^(AW) coming from Gilead.^(AX) Their camels were loaded with spices, balm^(AY) and myrrh,^(AZ) and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.^(BA)

²⁶ Judah^(BB) said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?^{(BC) 27} Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother,^(BD) our own flesh and blood.^(BE)” His brothers agreed.

²⁸ So when the Midianite^(BF) merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern^(BG) and sold^(BH) him for twenty shekels^[b] of silver^(BI) to the Ishmaelites,^(BJ) who took him to Egypt.^(BK)

²⁹ When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.^{(BL) 30} He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I turn now?”^(BM)

³¹ Then they got Joseph’s robe,^(BN) slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood.^{(BO) 32} They took the ornate robe^(BP) back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.”

³³ He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal^(BQ) has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.”^(BR)

³⁴ Then Jacob tore his clothes,^(BS) put on sackcloth^(BT) and mourned for his son many days.^{(BU) 35} All his sons and daughters came to comfort him,^(BV) but he refused to be comforted.^(BW) “No,” he said, “I will continue to mourn until I join my son^(BX) in the grave.^(BY)” So his father wept for him.

³⁶ Meanwhile, the Midianites^[c](BZ) sold Joseph^(CA) in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.^(CB)

The Parable of the Tenants^(A)

12 Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard.^(B) He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. ² At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. ³ But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴ Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. ⁵ He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.

⁶ “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all,^(C) saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

⁷ “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸ So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

⁹ “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture:

¹² Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd;^(F) so they left him and went away.^(G)

Paying the Imperial Tax to Caesar^(H)

¹³ Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians^(I) to Jesus to catch him^(J) in his words. ¹⁴ They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax^[b] to Caesar or not? ¹⁵ Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”

But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” ¹⁶ They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

¹⁷ Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”^(K)

And they were amazed at him.

Marriage at the Resurrection^(L)

¹⁸ Then the Sadducees,^(M) who say there is no resurrection,^(N) came to him with a question. ¹⁹ “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.^{(O) 20} Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. ²¹ The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. ²² In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. ²³ At the resurrection^[c] whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”

²⁴ Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures^(P) or the power of God? ²⁵ When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.^{(Q) 26} Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’^[d]?^{(R) 27} He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”

The Greatest Commandment^(S)

²⁸ One of the teachers of the law^(T) came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

²⁹ “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.^{[e] 30} Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’^{[f](U) 31} The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[g](V) There is no commandment greater than these.”

³² “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him.^{(W) 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 burnt offerings and sacrifices.”^(X)

³⁴ When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”^(Y) And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.^(Z)

Whose Son Is the Messiah?^(AA)(AB)

³⁵ While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts,^(AC) he asked, “Why do the teachers of the law say that the Messiah is the son of David?^{(AD) 36} David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit,^(AE) declared:

³⁷ David himself calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?”

The large crowd^(AG) listened to him with delight.

Warning Against the Teachers of the Law

³⁸ As he taught, Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, ³⁹ and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.^{(AH) 40} They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”

The Widow’s Offering^(AI)

⁴¹ Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put^(AJ) and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. ⁴² But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.

⁴³ Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. ⁴⁴ They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”^(AK)