Chronological
Warnings against scribes and Pharisees
23 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The scribes and Pharisees,” he said, “sit on the seat of Moses. 3 So you must do whatever they tell you, and keep it, but don’t do the things they do. You see, they talk but they don’t do. 4 They tie up heavy bundles which are difficult to carry, and they dump them on people’s shoulders—but they themselves aren’t prepared to lift a little finger to move them!
5 “Everything they do is for show, to be seen by people. Yes, they make their prayer-boxes large and their prayer-tassels long, 6 and they love the chief places at dinners, the main seats in the synagogues, 7 the greetings in the market-places, and having people call them ‘Rabbi.’
8 “You mustn’t be called ‘Rabbi.’ You have one teacher, and you are all one family. 9 And you shouldn’t call anyone ‘father’ on earth, because you have one father, in heaven. 10 Nor should you be called ‘teacher,’ because you have one teacher, the Messiah.
11 “The greatest among you should be your servant. 12 People who make themselves great will be humbled; and people who humble themselves will become great.”
Condemnation of scribes and Pharisees (1)
13 “Woe betide you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites!” Jesus continued. “You slam the door of heaven’s kingdom in people’s faces. You don’t go in yourselves, and when other people try to enter, you stop them.
15 “Woe betide you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You cross sea and land to make one single Gentile take up Jewish practices, and when that happens you make the convert twice as much a child of Gehenna as you are yourselves.
16 “Woe betide you, you blind guides! This is what you say: ‘If anyone swears by the Temple, it’s nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold in the Temple, the oath is valid.’ 17 How crazy and blind can you get! Which is greater, the gold, or the Temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it’s nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, the oath is valid.’ 19 How blind you are! Which is greater, the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And whoever swears by the Temple swears by it and by the one who lives in it. 22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by the one who sits on it.”
Condemnation of scribes and Pharisees (2)
23 “Woe betide you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites!” Jesus went on. “You tithe mint and dill and cumin, and you omit the serious matters of the law like justice, mercy and loyalty. You should have done these, without neglecting the others. 24 You’re blind guides! You filter out a gnat, but you gulp down a camel!
25 “Woe betide you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You scrub the outside of the cup and the dish, but the inside is full of extortion and moral flabbiness. 26 You blind Pharisee, first make the inside of the cup clean, and then the outside will be clean as well.
27 “Woe betide you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You’re like whitewashed graves, which look fine on the outside, but inside they are full of dead people’s bones and uncleanness of every kind. 28 That’s like you: on the outside you appear to be virtuous and law-abiding, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 “Woe betide you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build the tombs of the prophets, and you decorate the memorials of the righteous, 30 and you say, ‘If we’d lived in the days of our ancestors, we wouldn’t have gone along with them in killing the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the children of the people who murdered the prophets! 32 Well then, go ahead: complete the work your ancestors began! 33 You snakes, you nest of vipers, how can you escape the judgment of Gehenna?”
Judgment on Jerusalem and its leaders
34 “Because of all this,” Jesus concluded, “I’m sending you prophets, wise men and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify. Some of them you will whip in your synagogues. You’ll chase them from town to town. 35 That’s how all the righteous blood that’s been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah—you murdered him between sanctuary and altar—all that blood will come upon you. 36 I’m telling you the solemn truth: it will all come on this generation.
37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often have I longed to gather up your children, the way a hen gathers up her brood under her wings, and you didn’t want me to! 38 Now, see here: your house has been abandoned by God; it’s a ruin. 39 Yes, I tell you: you won’t see me again from now on until you say, ‘God’s blessing on the coming one, the one who comes in the Lord’s own name!’ ”
The question about Jesus’ authority
20 On one of those days, while Jesus was teaching the people in the Temple, and announcing the good news, the chief priests and the scribes came up with the elders, and said to him, 2 “Tell us: by what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority?”
3 “I’ve got a question for you, too,” said Jesus, “so tell me this: 4 was John’s baptism from God, or was it merely human?”
5 “If we say it was from God,” they said among themselves, “he’ll say, So why didn’t you believe him? 6 But if we say ‘merely human,’ all the people will stone us, since they’re convinced that John was a prophet.”
7 So they replied that they didn’t know where John and his baptism came from.
8 “Very well, then,” said Jesus. “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
The parable of the tenants
9 Jesus began to tell the people this parable. “There was a man who planted a vineyard, let it out to tenant farmers, and went abroad for a long while. 10 When the time came, he sent a slave to the farmers to collect from them some of the produce of the vineyard. But the farmers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 He then sent a further slave, and they beat him, abused him, and sent him back empty-handed. 12 Then he sent yet a third, and they beat him up and threw him out.
13 “So the master of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I’ll send my beloved son. They will certainly respect him!’ 14 But when the farmers saw him they said to each other, ‘This is the heir! Let’s kill him, and then the inheritance will belong to us!’ 15 And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
“So what will the master of the vineyard do? 16 He will come and wipe out those farmers, and give the vineyard to others.”
When they heard this, they said, “God forbid!” 17 But Jesus looked round at them and said, “What then does it mean in the Bible when it says,
The very stone the builders refused
now for the corner’s top is used?
18 “Everyone who falls on that stone will be smashed to smithereens; but if it falls on anyone, it will crush them.”
19 The scribes and the chief priests tried to lay hands on him then and there. But they were afraid of the people, because they knew that Jesus had told this parable against them.
On paying taxes to Caesar
20 So the authorities watched Jesus, and sent people to lie in wait for him. They pretended to be upright folk, but were trying to trap him in something he said, so that they could hand him over to the rule and authority of the governor. 21 So they asked him this question.
“Teacher,” they said, “we know that you speak and teach with integrity. You are completely impartial, and you teach God’s way and God’s truth. 22 So: is it right for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?”
23 Jesus knew they were playing a trick.
24 “Show me a tribute-coin,” he said. “This image . . . and this inscription . . . who do they belong to?”
“Caesar,” they said.
25 “Well, then,” replied Jesus, “you’d better give Caesar back what belongs to him! And give God back what belongs to him.”
26 They couldn’t catch him in anything he said in front of the people. They were amazed at his answer, and had nothing more to say.
Marriage and the resurrection
27 Some of the Sadducees came to Jesus to put their question. (The Sadducees deny that there is any resurrection.)
28 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that ‘if a man’s brother dies, leaving a widow but no children, the man should marry the widow and raise up a family for his brother.’ 29 Well, now: there were seven brothers; the eldest married a wife, and died without children. 30 The second 31 and the third married her, and then each of the seven, and they died without children. 32 Finally the woman died as well. 33 So, in the resurrection, whose wife will the woman be? The seven all had her as their wife.”
34 “The children of this age,” replied Jesus, “marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those who are counted worthy of a place in the age to come, and of the resurrection of the dead, don’t marry, and they are not given in marriage. 36 This is because they can no longer die; they are the equivalent of angels. They are children of God, since they are children of the resurrection.
37 “But when it comes to the dead being raised, Moses too declares it, in the passage about the burning bush, where scripture describes the Lord as ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ 38 God is God, not of the dead, but of the living. They are all alive to him.”
39 “That was well said, Teacher,” commented some of the scribes, 40 since they no longer dared ask him anything else.
David’s son and the widow’s mite
41 Jesus said to them, “How can people say that the Messiah is the son of David? 42 David himself says, in the book of Psalms,
The Lord says to the Lord of mine
sit here at my right hand;
43 until I place those foes of thine
right underneath thy feet.
44 “David, you see, calls him ‘Lord’; so how can he be his son?”
45 As all the people listened to him, he said to the disciples, 46 “Watch out for the scribes who like to go about in long robes, and enjoy being greeted in the market-place, sitting in the best seats in the synagogues, and taking the top table at dinners. 47 They devour widows’ houses, and make long prayers without meaning them. Their judgment will be all the more severe.”
21 He looked up and saw rich people putting their contributions into the Temple treasury. 2 He also saw an impoverished widow putting in two tiny copper coins.
3 “I’m telling you the truth,” he said. “This poor widow has put in more than all of them. 4 They all contributed to the collection out of their plenty, but she contributed out of her poverty, and gave her whole livelihood.”
Signs of the end
5 Some people were talking about the Temple, saying how wonderfully it was decorated, with its beautiful stones and dedicated gifts.
“Yes,” said Jesus; 6 “but the days will come when everything you see will be torn down. Not one stone will be left standing on another.”
7 “Teacher,” they asked him, “when will these things happen? What will be the sign that it’s all about to take place?”
8 “Watch out that nobody deceives you,” said Jesus. “Yes: lots of people will come using my name, saying ‘I’m the one!’ and ‘The time has come!’ Don’t go following them. 9 When you hear about wars and rebellions, don’t be alarmed. These things have to happen first, but the end won’t come at once.
10 “One nation will rise against another,” he went on, “and one kingdom against another. 11 There will be huge earthquakes, famines and plagues in various places, terrifying omens, and great signs from heaven.
12 “Before all this happens they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will hand you over to the synagogues and prisons. They will drag you before kings and governors because of my name. 13 That will become an opportunity for you to tell your story. 14 So settle it in your hearts not to work out beforehand what tale to tell. 15 I’ll give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict.
16 “You will be betrayed by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will kill some of you. 17 You will be hated by everyone because of my name. 18 But no hair of your head will be lost. 19 The way to keep your lives is to be patient.”
The distress of Jerusalem predicted
20 “But,” continued Jesus, “when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that her time of desolation has arrived. 21 Then people in Judaea should run off to the hills, people in Jerusalem itself should get out as fast as they can, and people in the countryside shouldn’t go back into the city. 22 Those will be the days of severe judgment, which will fulfill all the biblical warnings. 23 Woe betide pregnant women, and nursing mothers, in those days! There is going to be huge distress on the earth, and divine anger against this people. 24 The hungry sword will eat them up. They will be taken as prisoners to every nation; and Jerusalem will be trampled by the pagans, until the times of the pagans are done.
25 “There will be signs in the sun, the moon and the stars. On earth the nations will be in distress and confusion because of the roaring and swelling of the sea and its waves. 26 People will faint from fear, and from imagining all that’s going to happen to the world. The powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then they will see ‘the son of man coming on a cloud’ with power and great majesty. 28 When all these things start to happen, stand up and lift up your heads, because the time has come for you to be redeemed.”
29 He told them this parable. “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. 30 When they are well into leaf, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is upon you. 31 In the same way, when you see all these things happening, you will know that God’s kingdom is upon you. 32 I’m telling you the truth; this generation won’t be gone before all of this happens. 33 Heaven and earth may disappear, but these words of mine won’t disappear.”
Watching for the son of man
34 “So watch out for yourselves,” said Jesus. “Don’t let your hearts grow heavy with dissipation and drunkenness and the cares of this life, letting that day come upon you suddenly, 35 like a trap. It will come, you see, on everyone who lives on the face of the earth. 36 Keep awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that will happen, and to stand before the son of man.”
37 Jesus was teaching in the Temple by day, but at night he went out and stayed in the place called the Mount of Olives. 38 From early morning all the people flocked to him in the Temple, to hear him.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.