1. AND [Jesus] started to speak to them in parables [with comparisons and illustrations]. A man planted a vineyard and put a hedge around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower and let it out [for rent] to vinedressers and went into another country.
2. When the season came, he sent a bond servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.
3. But they took him and beat him and sent him away without anything.
4. Again he sent to them another bond servant, and they stoned him and wounded him in the head and treated him shamefully [sending him away with insults].
5. And he sent another, and that one they killed; then many others–some they beat, and some they put to death.
6. He had still one left [to send], a beloved son; last of all he sent him to them, saying, They will respect my son.
7. But those tenants said to one another, Here is the heir; come on, let us put him to death, and [then] the inheritance will be ours.
8. And they took him and killed him, and threw [his body] outside the vineyard.
9. Now what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants, and give the vineyard to others.
10. Have you not even read this [passage of] Scripture: The very Stone which [after putting It to the test] the builders rejected has become the Head of the corner [Cornerstone];
11. This is from the Lord and is His doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? [Ps. 118:22, 23.]
12. And they were trying to get hold of Him, but they were afraid of the people, for they knew that He spoke this parable with reference to and against them. So they left Him and departed. [Isa. 5:1-7.]
13. But they sent some of the Pharisees and of the Herodians to Him for the purpose of entrapping Him in His speech.
14. And they came up and said to Him, Teacher, we know that You are sincere and what You profess to be, that You cannot lie, and that You have no personal bias for anyone; for You are not influenced by partiality and have no regard for anyone's external condition or position, but in [and on the basis of] truth You teach the way of God. Is it lawful (permissible and right) to give tribute (poll taxes) to Caesar or not?
15. Should we pay [them] or should we not pay [them]? But knowing their hypocrisy, He asked them, Why do you put Me to the test? Bring Me a coin (a denarius), so I may see it.
16. And they brought [Him one]. Then He asked them, Whose image (picture) is this? And whose superscription (title)? They said to Him, Caesar's.
17. Jesus said to them, Pay to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. And they stood marveling and greatly amazed at Him.
18. And [some] Sadducees came to Him, [of that party] who say there is no resurrection, and they asked Him a question, saying,
19. Teacher, Moses gave us [a law] that if a man's brother died, leaving a wife but no child, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. [Deut. 25:5.]
20. Now there were seven brothers; the first one took a wife and died, leaving no children.
21. And the second [brother] married her, and died, leaving no children; and the third did the same;
22. And all seven, leaving no children. Last of all, the woman died also.
23. Now in the resurrection, whose wife will she be? For the seven were married to her.
24. Jesus said to them, Is not this where you wander out of the way and go wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?
25. For when they arise from among the dead, [men] do not marry nor are [women] given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven.
26. But concerning the dead being raised–have you not read in the book of Moses, [in the passage] about the [burning] bush, how God said to him, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? [Exod. 3:2-6.]
27. He is not the God of [the] dead, but of [the] living! You are very wrong.
28. Then one of the scribes came up and listened to them disputing with one another, and, noticing that Jesus answered them fitly and admirably, he asked Him, Which commandment is first and most important of all [in its nature]?
29. Jesus answered, The first and principal one of all commands is: Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord;
30. And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and out of and with all your soul (your life) and out of and with all your mind (with your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength. This is the first and principal commandment. [Deut. 6:4, 5.]
31. The second is like it and is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. [Lev. 19:18.]
32. And the scribe said to Him, Excellently and fitly and admirably answered, Teacher! You have said truly that He is One, and there is no other but Him;
33. And to love Him out of and with all the heart and with all the understanding [with the faculty of quick apprehension and intelligence and keenness of discernment] and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. [I Sam. 15:22; Hos. 6:6; Mic. 6:6-8; Heb. 10:8.]
34. And when Jesus saw that he answered intelligently (discreetly and having his wits about him), He said to him, You are not far from the kingdom of God. And after that no one ventured or dared to ask Him any further question.
35. And as Jesus taught in [a porch or court of] the temple, He said, How can the scribes say that the Christ is David's Son?
36. David himself, [inspired] in the Holy Spirit, declared, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies [a footstool] under Your feet. [Ps. 110:1.]
37. David himself calls Him Lord; so how can it be that He is his Son? Now the great mass of the people heard [Jesus] gladly [listening to Him with delight].
38. And in [the course of] His teaching, He said, Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes and [to get] greetings in the marketplaces [public forums],
39. And [have] the front seats in the synagogues and the chief couches (places of honor) at feasts,
40. Who devour widows' houses and to cover it up make long prayers. They will receive the heavier [sentence of] condemnation.
41. And He sat down opposite the treasury and saw how the crowd was casting money into the treasury. Many rich [people] were throwing in large sums.
42. And a widow who was poverty-stricken came and put in two copper mites [the smallest of coins], which together make half of a cent.
43. And He called His disciples [to Him] and said to them, Truly and surely I tell you, this widow, [she who is] poverty-stricken, has put in more than all those contributing to the treasury.
44. For they all threw in out of their abundance; but she, out of her deep poverty, has put in everything that she had–[even] all she had on which to live.