Luke 20:20-44

Common English Bible

An attempt to trap Jesus

²⁰ The legal experts and chief priests were watching Jesus closely and sent spies who pretended to be sincere. They wanted to trap him in his words so they could hand him over to the jurisdiction and authority of the governor. ²¹ They asked him, “Teacher, we know that you are correct in what you say and teach. You don’t show favoritism but teach God’s way as it really is. ²² Does the Law allow people to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

²³ Since Jesus recognized their deception, he said to them, ²⁴ “Show me a coin.^[a] Whose image and inscription does it have on it?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

²⁵ He said to them, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” ²⁶ They couldn’t trap him in his words in front of the people. Astonished by his answer, they were speechless.

Question about the resurrection

²⁷ Some Sadducees, who deny that there’s a resurrection, came to Jesus and asked, ²⁸ “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a widow but no children, the brother must marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.^{[b] 29} Now there were seven brothers. The first man married a woman and then died childless. ³⁰ The second ³¹ and then the third brother married her. Eventually all seven married her, and they all died without leaving any children. ³² Finally, the woman died too. ³³ In the resurrection, whose wife will she be? All seven were married to her.”

³⁴ Jesus said to them, “People who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage. ³⁵ But those who are considered worthy to participate in that age, that is, in the age of the resurrection from the dead, won’t marry nor will they be given in marriage. ³⁶ They can no longer die, because they are like angels and are God’s children since they share in the resurrection. ³⁷ Even Moses demonstrated that the dead are raised—in the passage about the burning bush, when he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.^{[c] 38} He isn’t the God of the dead but of the living. To him they are all alive.”

³⁹ Some of the legal experts responded, “Teacher, you have answered well.” ⁴⁰ No one dared to ask him anything else.

⁴¹ Jesus said to them, “Why do they say that the Christ is David’s son? ⁴² David himself says in the scroll of Psalms, The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right side ⁴³ until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’^{[d] 44} Since David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be David’s son?”