New Testament in a Year

Chapter 12

The Parable of the Tenants.^{[a] 1} Then Jesus began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went off on a journey.

² “When the time arrived, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them his share of the produce of the vineyard. ³ But they seized the servant, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴ Again, he sent them another servant, but they beat him over the head and treated him shamefully. ⁵ Then he sent another, and that one they killed. He also sent many others, some of whom they beat, and others of whom they killed.

⁶ “Finally, he had only one other to send—his beloved son. And so he sent him to them, thinking: ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ ⁸ And so they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

⁹ “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and put those tenants to death and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Have you not read this Scripture:

¹² They wanted to arrest him because they realized that this parable was directed at them, but they were afraid of the crowd. Therefore, they left him and went away.

Controversies^[b]

¹³ God or Caesar.^[c] Then they sent some Pharisees and Herodians to trap him in what he said. ¹⁴ They came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are truthful and are not concerned with anyone’s opinion no matter what his station in life. Rather, you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it lawful or not for us to pay taxes to Caesar? Should we pay them or not?”

¹⁵ He was aware of their hypocrisy and said to them, “Why are you trying to trap me? Bring me a denarius^[d] and let me examine it.” ¹⁶ When they brought one, he asked them, “Whose image is this, and whose inscription?” They replied and said to him, “Caesar’s.” ¹⁷ Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar what is due to Caesar, and to God what is due to God.” His reply left them completely amazed at him.

¹⁸ Marriage and the Resurrection.^[e] Then some Sadducees, who assert that there is no resurrection, approached him and posed this question, ¹⁹ “Teacher, Moses wrote down for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, the man shall take his brother’s wife and raise up children for his brother. ²⁰ Now there were seven brothers. The first brother took a wife and died, leaving no children. ²¹ The second brother married the widow and died, leaving no children. The same was true of the third brother. ²² None of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman herself died. ²³ Now at the resurrection, when they rise up, whose wife will she be, inasmuch as all seven had her?”

²⁴ Jesus said to them, “Is not this the reason you are in error—namely, that you do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God? ²⁵ For when they rise from the dead, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. They are like angels in heaven.

²⁶ “And in regard to the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account about the bush, how God said to him: ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’ ²⁷ He is not the God of the dead but of the living. You are very badly mistaken.”