Mark 12 - 13 — Legacy Standard Bible

Parable of the Vine-Growers

12^aAnd He began to speak to them in parables: “^bA man ^cplanted a vineyard and put a ¹wall around it, and dug a vat under the wine press and built a tower, and rented it out to ²vine-growers and went on a journey. ²“And at the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vine-growers. ³“And they took him, and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴“And again he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. ⁵“And he sent another, and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others. ⁶“He had one more, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷“But those vine-growers said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ ⁸“And they took him, and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. ⁹“What will the ¹owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine-growers, and will give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰“Have you not even read this Scripture: ‘^aThe stone which the builders rejected,This has become the chief corner stone;

¹¹^aThis came about from the ¹Lord,And it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

¹²^aAnd they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the crowd, for they understood that He spoke the parable against them. And so ^bthey left Him and went away.

Taxes to Caesar

¹³^aThen they *sent some of the Pharisees and ^bHerodians to Him in order to ^ctrap Him in a statement. ¹⁴And they *came and *said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and ¹defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it ²lawful to pay a tax to Caesar, or not? ¹⁵“Shall we pay or shall we not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a ¹denarius to look at.” ¹⁶And they brought one. And He *said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” And they said to Him, “Caesar’s.” ¹⁷And Jesus said to them, “^aRender to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they ¹were amazed at Him.

The Sadducees and the Resurrection

¹⁸^aThen some Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection) *came to Jesus, and began questioning Him, saying, ¹⁹“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that ^aif a man’s brother dies and leaves behind a wife and leaves no child, his brother should ¹marry the wife and raise up a seed for his brother. ²⁰“There were seven brothers; and the first ¹married a wife, and died leaving no ²seed. ²¹“And the second one ¹married her, and died leaving behind no seed; and the third likewise; ²²and so ¹all seven left no seed. Last of all the woman died also. ²³“In the resurrection, ¹when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For ²all seven ³had married her.” ²⁴Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not ¹understand the Scriptures nor the power of God? ²⁵“For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. ²⁶“But ¹regarding the fact that the dead are raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, ^ain the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘^bI am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? ²⁷“^aHe is not the God of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken.”

The Foremost Commandment

²⁸^aAnd when one of the scribes came and heard them arguing, he ^brecognized that He had answered them well and asked Him, “What commandment is the ¹foremost of all?” ²⁹Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘^aHear, O Israel! The ¹Lord our God is one ²Lord; ³⁰^aand you shall love the ¹Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ ³¹“The second is this, ‘^aYou shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” ³²And the scribe said to Him, “Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that ^aHe is One, and there is no one else besides Him; ³³^aand to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as himself, ^bis much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” ³⁴And when Jesus saw that he had answered thoughtfully, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” ^aAfter that, no one would dare to ask Him any more questions.

³⁵^aAnd Jesus began to say, as He ^btaught in the temple, “How is it that the scribes say that the ¹Christ is the ^cson of David? ³⁶“David himself said ¹in the Holy Spirit, ‘^aThe ²Lord said to my Lord,“Sit at My right hand,Until I put Your enemies beneath Your feet.”’

³⁷“David himself calls Him ‘Lord’; so in what sense is He his son?” And ^athe large crowd ¹enjoyed listening to Him.

³⁸^aAnd in His teaching He was saying: “Beware of the scribes who want to walk around in long robes, and want ^brespectful greetings in the marketplaces, ³⁹and best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, ⁴⁰^awho devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation.”

The Widow’s Offering

⁴¹^aAnd He sat down opposite ^bthe treasury, and began observing how the crowd was ^cputting ¹money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. ⁴²And a poor widow came and put in two ¹lepta, which amount to a ²quadrans. ⁴³And calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all those putting money into the treasury; ⁴⁴for they all put in out of their ¹surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, ²all she had ^ato live on.”

Signs of Christ’s Return

13^aAnd as He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples *said to Him, “Teacher, behold ¹what wonderful stones and ²what wonderful buildings!” ²And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? ^aNot one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.”

³And as He was sitting on ^athe Mount of Olives opposite the temple, ^bPeter and James and John and Andrew were questioning Him privately, ⁴“Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the ¹sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?” ⁵And Jesus began to say to them, “See to it that no one deceives you. ⁶“Many will come in My name, saying, ‘^aI am He!’ and will mislead many. ⁷“And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end. ⁸“For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pains.

⁹“But see to yourselves; for they will ^adeliver you to the ¹courts, and you will be beaten ^bin the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a witness to them. ¹⁰“^aAnd the gospel must first be proclaimed to all the nations. ¹¹“^aAnd when they lead you away, delivering you up, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given to you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit. ¹²“And brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and ¹have them put to death. ¹³“^aAnd you will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.

The Abomination of Desolation and the Tribulation

¹⁴“But ^awhen you see the ^babomination of desolation standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. ¹⁵“^aAnd the one who is on the housetop must not go down, or go in to get anything out of his house; ¹⁶and the one who is in the field must not turn back to get his garment. ¹⁷“But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! ¹⁸“But pray that it may not happen in the winter. ¹⁹“For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred ^asince the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will. ²⁰“And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no ¹life would have been saved; but for the sake of the ²elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days. ²¹“And then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the ¹Christ’; or, ‘Behold, He is there’; do not believe him; ²²for false christs and ^afalse prophets will arise, and will show ¹^,^bsigns and ^cwonders, in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect. ²³“But as for you, see! I have told you everything in advance.

The Coming of the Son of Man

²⁴“But in those days, after that tribulation, ^athe sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light, ²⁵^aand the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in ¹the heavens will be shaken. ²⁶“And then they will see ^athe Son of Man ^bcoming in clouds with great power and glory. ²⁷“And then He will send forth the angels, and ^awill gather together His ¹elect from the four winds, ^bfrom the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven.

The Parable of the Fig Tree

²⁸“Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. ²⁹“Even so, you too, when you see these things happening, ¹recognize that ²He is near, right at the ³door. ³⁰“Truly I say to you, this ¹generation will not pass away until all these things take place. ³¹“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. ³²“^aBut of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

³³“See to it, ^akeep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time ¹will come. ³⁴“^aIt is like a man away on a journey, who, leaving his house and giving authority to his slaves—each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay awake. ³⁵“Therefore, ^astay awake—for you do not know when the ¹master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or ^bwhen the rooster crows, or ^cin the morning— ³⁶lest he come suddenly and find you ^asleeping. ³⁷“And what I say to you I say to all, ‘^aStay awake!’”