Chronological
Jesus talks about dangerous teachers
23 After that, Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples. 2 He said, ‘The teachers of God's Law and the Pharisees have authority to explain the Law of Moses. 3 So you must obey everything that they teach you. But you should not do the same things that they do. They tell you what the Law of Moses teaches. But then they themselves do not obey it. 4 The rules that they give you are difficult to obey. Their rules are like heavy luggage, which they make you carry. But they themselves will not help you to carry that luggage. They will not agree to use even one finger to help you.[a]
5 The Pharisees do things only so that people will see them. They wear little boxes with words from the Bible in them, but they make them really big. They also make the tassels on their clothes very long.[b] 6 They like to sit in the important places at special meals. They also choose to sit in the best seats in the meeting places. 7 They like people to praise them in the market place. They want people to call them “Teacher.”
8 You all belong to God's family. You have only one Teacher. So nobody should call another person, “Teacher”.[c] 9 Also, do not call any other person in the world, “Father”. You have only one Father, and he is in heaven.[d] 10 And do not call each other “Leader”. You have only one Leader. He is the Messiah that God has chosen. 11 The person among you who is most important will be your servant. 12 Some people lift themselves up to be important. But God will bring them down low. Other people are humble. God will lift up those people to a good place.’
Jesus speaks against the teachers of God's Law and the Pharisees
13 Jesus spoke to the teachers of God's Law and the Pharisees. ‘It will be very bad for you,’ he said. ‘You are hypocrites! You have stopped people who wanted to go into the kingdom of heaven. It is like you have shut the door so that they cannot go in. Then you yourselves do not even go in.
14 [It will be very bad for you, teachers of God's Law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites! You take things away from women after their husbands have died. You pray for a long time so that other people will praise you. God will punish you much more than other people.][e]
15 It will be very bad for you, teachers of God's Law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites! You travel far across land and sea. You do this to make one person believe what you believe. Then, when he does believe your ideas, he becomes worse than you are. He shows that he belongs to hell even more than you do.
16 It will be very bad for you, teachers. You cannot see what is true, but you show people which way to go.[f] You say to people, “You may make a promise by the name of the temple. Then it is not a serious promise. You do not have to do it. But you may also make a promise by the gold things in the temple. Then it is a serious promise, and you must do it.” 17 This shows that you are fools. You do not understand what is true. Think about which of these is more important. Is it the gold things in the temple? Or is it the temple itself? It is the temple that makes the gold things special. 18 You also say to people, “You may make a promise by the altar in the temple. Then it is not a serious promise. You do not have to do it. But you may also make a promise by the gifts on that altar. Then it is a serious promise and you must do it.” 19 You are people who cannot understand what is true. Think about which of these things is more important. Is it the gifts on the altar? Or is it the altar itself? It is the altar that makes the gifts special. 20 Remember this: Somebody may make a promise by the name of the altar. Then he is making a promise by God's name. The altar as well as all the gifts on it are special to God. 21 Also, somebody may make a promise by the name of the temple. Then he is making a promise in the name of God, who lives there. 22 Or somebody may make a promise by heaven. Then he is making a promise by the place where God sits and rules. So he is making a promise by the name of God himself.[g]
23 It will be very bad for you, teachers of God's Law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites! When you grow spices to cook with food, you give a tenth part of these small things to God. You are right to obey this rule. But you do not obey the more important parts of God's Law. You do not help people in a good way. You are not kind to them. You do not always do what God says is right. You should have done these important things as well as the other small things. 24 You are like blind people, but you show other people which way to go. You carefully take a small fly out of your water so that you do not drink it. But then you drink the large animal that is swimming in it![h]
25 It will be very bad for you, teachers of God's Law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites! You always clean the outside of your cups and plates very carefully. You only clean the outside part that people can see. But on the inside, everything is still dirty. Inside you, your minds are full of bad thoughts. You want to have more things for yourself. You hurt other people to get what you want. 26 Pharisees, you do not see what is true! You must first clean the inside of the cup. Then the outside that people can see will also be clean.
27 It will be very bad for you, teachers of God's law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites! You are like a grave that has nice white paint on the outside and it looks beautiful. But on the inside it is full of bones and disgusting things. 28 You are the same as that. Other people look at you. They think that you are good and you obey God. But on the inside you are hypocrites. Your minds are full of many bad thoughts.
29 It will be very bad for you, teachers of God's Law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites! You build up the places where people have buried God's prophets. You make the places where they have buried good people to be beautiful. 30 You say, “Our ancestors killed God's prophets long ago. If we had lived at that time, we would not have helped our ancestors to do that.” 31 So you are speaking against yourselves. You show that you are the sons of those people who killed God's prophets. 32 Now you must finish the work that your ancestors began to do!
33 You are like a family of dangerous snakes! You will not be able to run away. God will surely punish you, and he will send you to hell. 34 So listen to this. God says, “I will send prophets to you. I will also send to you people who know many things. And I will send people to teach you what is true. But you will kill some of these people. You will kill some of them on a cross. In the places where you meet to pray, you will hit some of them with whips. They will run from one town to another town, but you will follow them.” 35 Because of all this, God will punish you for all the good people that you and your ancestors have killed. Long ago, Abel was the first of those good people. You also killed Zechariah, the son of Berekiah. He died in the yard of the temple near the altar.[i] 36 Yes, I tell you this: God will punish the people who are alive today for all those murders.
37 Jerusalem, Jerusalem! Your people have killed God's prophets. They have thrown stones to kill other people that God has sent to you. Many times, I have wanted to bring all of your people near to me. A female bird covers her babies with her body to make them safe. But you would not let me keep you from danger like that. 38 So listen! Your place will now become like a wilderness where nobody lives. 39 And I tell you this. You will not see me again until the day when you say, “May the Lord God bless the man who comes with his authority!” ’[j]
Jesus talks about his authority
20 One day, Jesus was teaching people in the yard of the temple. He was telling people the good news about God. Then the leaders of the priests and the teachers of God's Law came to him. With them were some other important Jews. 2 They asked him, ‘Tell us what authority you have to do these things? Who gave you the authority to do them?’
3 Jesus replied, ‘I also will ask you a question. Tell me the answer. 4 John baptized people. Did God give him the authority to do this? Or did men tell him to do it?’
5 The Jewish leaders talked to each other about Jesus' question. ‘We could say that God gave John his authority. But if we say that, Jesus will say to us, “Then you should have believed John.” 6 But we do not want to say that only men gave John his authority. Then all the people would throw stones at us to kill us. They are sure that John really was a prophet from God.’ 7 So the Jewish leaders answered Jesus, ‘We do not know who gave John his authority.’
8 Jesus said to them, ‘You will not answer my question. So I will not tell you what authority I have to do these things.’
Jesus tells a story about farmers
9 Then Jesus began to tell this story to the people. He said, ‘A man planted vines in his garden to grow grapes there. He found some farmers to work in the garden for him. Then he went away to another country and he stayed there for a long time.
10 At the time for the harvest, the man sent a servant to speak to the farmers. He wanted them to give him some fruit from the garden.
But the farmers hit the servant with sticks and they sent him away with nothing.
11 The master sent another servant to go to the farmers. They hit him with sticks too, and they did other bad things to him. They also sent him away with nothing. 12 The master then sent a third servant to the farmers. They hurt him badly too, and they threw him out of the garden.
13 Then the master of the garden said to himself, “I know what I will do. I will send my own son to go to them. I love him very much. Perhaps they will respect him.” 14 But the farmers saw him coming. They said to each other, “This is the son of our master. When our master dies, the garden will belong to his son. So we should kill the son and then the garden will be ours.”
15 So they threw the son out of the garden and they killed him.’
Jesus went on to ask, ‘Then what will the master of the garden do to those farmers? 16 I tell you, he will come to those farmers and he will kill them. Then he will give the garden to other people to take care of it.’
When the people heard this, they replied, ‘That must never happen!’[a]
17 Jesus then looked at the people and he said, ‘You say that this must not happen. But you have read this in the Bible and you should know what it means:
“The builders refused to use a certain stone.
They thought that it had no value.
But now that stone has become the most important stone at the corner of the building.[b]
18 When a person falls onto that stone, it will break his body into pieces. When that stone falls on top of someone, it will destroy him completely.” ’
The leaders ask Jesus a question
19 The teachers of God's Law and the leaders of the priests knew that Jesus had told this story about them. They were the bad farmers in the story. So they wanted to take hold of Jesus immediately. But they did not do it, because they were afraid of the people.
20 So this is what they did to catch Jesus. They sent people to ask him difficult questions. These people pretended to be honest, but they wanted to deceive Jesus. They wanted to make him say something wrong. Then they would take him to the ruler of the city to punish him. 21 So these people went to Jesus. They said, ‘Teacher, everything that you say and everything that you teach is right. We know that. You teach everyone the same true message about what God wants us to do. You do not say something different to an important person to make him happy. 22 So tell us your answer to this question: Should we pay our taxes to the Roman ruler, Caesar? Is it right to give that money to him, or not?’
23 Jesus knew that those men were not really honest. They wanted to make him say the wrong thing. 24 So he said to them, ‘Show me a coin. Tell me, whose picture is on this coin? Whose name is on it?’ 25 The men replied, ‘It is Caesar's picture and Caesar's name.’ Jesus then said to them, ‘So you should give to Caesar the things that belong to him. And give to God the things that belong to God.’
26 So the Jewish leaders could not make Jesus say anything wrong. They were very surprised at his answer to their question. They could not say anything more against him. All the people who were there saw this.
The Sadducees ask Jesus a question
27 Then some of the Sadducees came to see Jesus. The Sadducees do not believe that anyone becomes alive again after they die.
28 They wanted to ask Jesus a question. ‘Teacher,’ they said to him, ‘Moses wrote this in the Bible for us: “A man may die and leave a wife but no children. Then that man's brother must marry the woman. Then their children will be called the children of the brother who died.” 29 But once there were seven brothers. The oldest brother married a woman. Then he died before they had any children. 30 So the second brother married this woman. But he also died without children. 31 Then the third brother married the woman. The same thing happened to all seven brothers. They all died but they had no children. 32 After all this, the woman also died. 33 You teach that one day dead people will become alive again. So, on that day, whose wife will the woman be? She had married all seven of those brothers.’
34 Jesus answered them, ‘Men and women who are alive on earth are the ones who get married. 35 But God has chosen some people to live again with him. He will raise them up after they have died. Those people will not marry. They will not have husbands or wives, 36 and they cannot die any more. This is because they will live as the angels live in heaven. They are children of God. He has made them alive again to live with him. 37 It is true that God makes dead people become alive again. Moses showed us this in his report about the bush in the wilderness. He told us that our Lord God is the God of Abraham. He is the God of Isaac. And he is the God of Jacob.[c] 38 But God is not the God of people who are dead. He is the God of people who are alive. For God, all people continue to be alive.’
39 Some of the teachers of God's Law agreed with Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘that was a very good answer.’ 40 After that, they were all afraid to ask Jesus any more questions.
The Messiah is someone that King David calls his Lord
41 Jesus said to them, ‘Why do people say that the Messiah will be King David's son? 42 David himself said this in the book called Psalms:[d]
“The Lord God said to my Lord,
Sit at my right side until I win against your enemies.
43 Then you will be able to put your feet on them.”
44 You see here that David calls the Messiah his Lord. So can you really say that the Messiah is David's son?’
Jesus speaks against the teachers of God's Law
45 All the people were listening to Jesus. Jesus then said to his disciples, 46 ‘Be careful not to do the same as the teachers of God's Law. They want people to think that they are important. So they walk about in beautiful long clothes. They like people to praise them in the market place. They choose to sit in the best seats in the meeting place. They like to sit in the most important places at special meals. 47 They take things away from women after their husbands have died, even their houses. Then they pray for a long time so that other people will praise them. Because they do these things, God will punish those men much more than other people.’
Jesus talks about people who give things to God
21 Then Jesus looked up and saw something that was happening in the temple. There was a box for money there. Many rich people were putting their gifts of money into the box.
2 Then he saw a woman coming there. Her husband had died and she was very poor. She put two small coins that had only a little value into the box. 3 ‘Let me tell you this,’ Jesus said. ‘This poor woman has put a better gift into the box than all the other people have put in there. 4 All those rich people have plenty of money. They only gave a small part of that. But this woman has almost nothing. She put everything that she had into the box. That money was what she needed to live.’
Jesus talks about things that will happen
5 Some of Jesus' disciples were talking about the temple. They spoke about the many beautiful stones in the walls. They also spoke about the many gifts to God that people had put there. 6 Jesus said to them, ‘You can see all these beautiful things now. But a day is coming when enemies will completely destroy it all. Not even one stone will remain on top of another stone.’
7 ‘Teacher,’ they asked, ‘When will all these things happen? What will show us that they will soon happen?’
8 Jesus replied. ‘Be careful! Some people will tell you things that are not true. Do not believe them. Many people will say that they have come on my behalf. They will say, “I am the Messiah.” They will say, “Now is the time!” Do not agree with those people. 9 You will hear about wars and people fighting each other. Do not be afraid. Those things must happen first, but the end of everything will not happen immediately.’
10 Jesus then said to them, ‘People from one country will attack the people from another country. Kings and their armies will fight against other kings and their armies. 11 The ground will shake, so that people will be afraid. In many different places, people will be hungry, with no food. Diseases will go from one person to another. Many people will die. Things will also happen in the sky that will frighten people.
12 But before all those things happen, people will take hold of you. They will do bad things to you and give you pain. They will take you to the leaders in their meeting places and they will keep you in prisons. They will make you stand in front of kings and rulers. All this will happen because you are my disciples. 13 This will be the time to tell them the good news about me. 14 So prepare your minds. You must decide not to think about how to answer the questions of kings and rulers. Wait until that time comes. 15 I will give you the right words to speak at that time. I will help you to be wise. The people who are against you will not be able to argue with you. They will just be quiet. 16 Even your parents and other people in your family will take hold of you. They will make you stand in front of kings and rulers. They will even kill some of you. 17 Everybody will hate you because you are my disciples. 18 But your life will be safe with me. You will not lose even one hair from your head. 19 Yes, you will have true life, if you remain strong.
20 One day you will see Jerusalem with armies all around it. Then you will know that enemies will soon destroy that city. 21 People in Judea must then run away to the hills to hide. People that are inside the city must leave it. People that are outside in the fields must not go back into the city. 22 This is when God will punish Israel's people. Then all the things will happen that his servants wrote about in the Bible. 23 That will be a very bad time for women who are soon to have a baby! It will also be a bad time for those women who have little babies! Yes, very bad things will happen to all the people of this country. God will be very angry with the people who live here. 24 At that time, enemies will fight God's people and kill many of them in war. They will take some of them away as prisoners to live in all the other countries. They will not be free to return home. People that are not Jews will destroy Jerusalem. They will rule here until it is time for them to stop.’[e]
25 ‘You will see strange things happen to the sun and to the moon and to the stars. Down on earth, things that happen will make people in many countries very afraid. The sea will move up and down and make a lot of noise. There will be great storms. 26 These things will frighten people because they do not understand them. The powerful things in the sky will shake. People will be very afraid about what will happen next in the world. They will become very weak and fall to the ground. 27 Then they will see the Son of Man. He will come in a cloud. He will have great power and bright glory. 28 When these things begin to happen, stand up. And look up, because God will then save you very soon.’
29 Then Jesus told them a story to explain this future time. He said, ‘Think about fig trees and other trees as well. 30 When you see new leaves on a tree, you know that summer will come soon. Nobody needs to tell you that. 31 In the same way, you will see these strange things happening. Then you will know that God will soon begin to rule in his kingdom.
32 I tell you this: The people who are alive now will not all die until all these things happen. 33 One day, the earth and the sky will have an end. But my words will be there for ever.
34 But be careful, and watch how you live. Do not eat or drink too much. Do not waste your time like that. Do not waste time by having troubles in your mind about your life. If you do, that day will surprise you. It will come when you are not looking. 35 It will surprise everyone who lives on all the earth. 36 So watch all the time! Continue to pray that you will be strong. Then you will be safe through all these things! You will stand in front of the Son of Man and you will not be afraid.’
37 Every day Jesus was teaching people in the temple. Each night he went out of the city and he stayed on the hill that is called the Mount of Olives. 38 Each morning he returned to the temple. All the people were going there early in the morning to hear him.
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