1 He began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a pit for the wine press, built a tower, rented it out to a farmer, and went into another country.
2 When it was time, he sent a servant to the farmer to get from the farmer his share of the fruit of the vineyard.
3 They took him, beat him, and sent him away empty.
4 Again, he sent another servant to them; and they threw stones at him, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated.
5 Again he sent another, and they killed him, and many others, beating some, and killing some.
6 Therefore still having one, his beloved son, he sent him last to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
7 But those farmers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’
8 They took him, killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.
9 What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the farmers, and will give the vineyard to others.
10 Haven’t you even read this Scripture: ‘The stone which the builders rejected was made the head of the corner.
11 This was from the Lord. It is marvelous in our eyes’?”
12 They tried to seize him, but they feared the multitude; for they perceived that he spoke the parable against them. They left him and went away.
13 They sent some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to him, that they might trap him with words.
14 When they had come, they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you are honest, and don’t defer to anyone; for you aren’t partial to anyone, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?
15 Shall we give, or shall we not give?” But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why do you test me? Bring me a denarius, that I may see it.”
16 They brought it. He said to them, “Whose is this image and inscription?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.”
17 Jesus answered them, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” They marveled greatly at him.
18 Some Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection, came to him. They asked him, saying,
19 “Teacher, Moses wrote to us, ‘If a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife behind him, and leaves no children, that his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.’
20 There were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and dying left no offspring.
21 The second took her, and died, leaving no children behind him. The third likewise;
22 and the seven took her and left no children. Last of all the woman also died.
23 In the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be of them? For the seven had her as a wife.”
24 Jesus answered them, “Isn’t this because you are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God?
25 For when they will rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
26 But about the dead, that they are raised, haven’t you read in the book of Moses about the Bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘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 therefore badly mistaken.”
28 One of the scribes came and heard them questioning together, and knowing that he had answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the greatest of all?”
29 Jesus answered, “The greatest is: ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
30 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.
31 The second is like this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
32 The scribe said to him, “Truly, teacher, you have said well that he is one, and there is none other but he;
33 and to love him with all the heart, with all the understanding, all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34 When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from God’s Kingdom.” No one dared ask him any question after that.
35 Jesus responded, as he taught in the temple, “How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?
36 For David himself said in the Holy Spirit, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet.”’
37 Therefore David himself calls him Lord, so how can he be his son?” The common people heard him gladly.
38 In his teaching he said to them, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk in long robes, and to get greetings in the marketplaces,
39 and to get the best seats in the synagogues and the best places at feasts,
40 those who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”
41 Jesus sat down opposite the treasury and saw how the multitude cast money into the treasury. Many who were rich cast in much.
42 A poor widow came and she cast in two small brass coins, which equal a quadrans coin.
43 He called his disciples to himself and said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, this poor widow gave more than all those who are giving into the treasury,
44 for they all gave out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on.”
8 passages from writers of 3 traditions, in their own words, each with their dates and tradition. The site doesn’t say who is right: read them beside the verses. About these
Reading as
Questions they answer differently
On verse
Oldest first.
Bedec. 673–735Early church, Westin the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas) · on Mark 12:32–34He shews when he says, "this is greater than all sacrifices," that a grave question was often debated between the scribes and Pharisees, which was the first commandment, or the greatest of the Divine law; that is, some praised offerings and sacrifices, others preferred acts of faith and love, because many of the fathers before the law pleased God by that faith only, which works by love. This scribe shews that he was of the latter opinion. … But the reason why he was not far from the kingdom of God was, that he proved himself to be a favourer of that opinion, which is proper to the New Testament and to Gospel perfection.
He shews when he says, "this is greater than all sacrifices," that a grave question was often debated between the scribes and Pharisees, which was the first commandment, or the greatest of the Divine law; that is, some praised offerings and sacrifices, others preferred acts of faith and love, because many of the fathers before the law pleased God by that faith only, which works by love. This scribe shews that he was of the latter opinion. … But the reason why he was not far from the kingdom of God was, that he proved himself to be a favourer of that opinion, which is proper to the New Testament and to Gospel perfection.
Bede, in the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas), on 12:28–34; translated under John Henry Newman (Oxford, 1841–1845); the text of CrossWire’s public-domain module. The edition
A monk of Jarrow in northern England, called the Venerable Bede, who wrote on the Gospels and the history of the English church.
Theophylact of Ohridc. 1050–1107Orthodoxin the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas) · on Mark 12:10–11The stone then which the builders refused, the same has become the head-stone of the corner, that is, of the Church. For the Church is, as it were, the corner, joining together Jews and Gentiles; and this corner has been made by the Lord, and is wonderful in our eyes, that is, in the eyes of the faithful … The Church indeed is wonderful, as it were resting on wonders, for the Lord worked with the Apostles, and confirmed the word with signs.
The stone then which the builders refused, the same has become the head-stone of the corner, that is, of the Church. For the Church is, as it were, the corner, joining together Jews and Gentiles; and this corner has been made by the Lord, and is wonderful in our eyes, that is, in the eyes of the faithful … The Church indeed is wonderful, as it were resting on wonders, for the Lord worked with the Apostles, and confirmed the word with signs.
Theophylact of Ohrid, in the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas), on 12:1–12; translated under John Henry Newman (Oxford, 1841–1845); the text of CrossWire’s public-domain module. The edition
A Byzantine archbishop in Ohrid (in today’s North Macedonia), whose commentaries on the Gospels gather the Greek Fathers.
Theophylact of Ohridc. 1050–1107Orthodoxin the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas) · on Mark 12:16–17As if He had said, Give what bears an image to him whose image it bears, that is, the penny to Caesar; for we can both pay Caesar his tribute, and offer to God what is His own. … The inevitable wants of our bodies is as Caesar unto each of us; the Lord therefore orders that there should be given to the body its own, that is, food and raiment, and to God the things that are God’s.
As if He had said, Give what bears an image to him whose image it bears, that is, the penny to Caesar; for we can both pay Caesar his tribute, and offer to God what is His own. … The inevitable wants of our bodies is as Caesar unto each of us; the Lord therefore orders that there should be given to the body its own, that is, food and raiment, and to God the things that are God’s.
Theophylact of Ohrid, in the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas), on 12:13–17; translated under John Henry Newman (Oxford, 1841–1845); the text of CrossWire’s public-domain module. The edition
A Byzantine archbishop in Ohrid (in today’s North Macedonia), whose commentaries on the Gospels gather the Greek Fathers.
Theophylact of Ohridc. 1050–1107Orthodoxin the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas) · on Mark 12:26–27As if He had said, "The God of the living," wherefore He adds, "He is not the God of the dead, but of the living;" for He did not say, I have been, but "I am," as if they had been present. But some one perhaps will say, that God spake this only of the soul of Abraham, not of his body; to which I answer, that Abraham implies both, that is, soul and body, so that He also is the God of the body, and the body lives with God, that is, in God’s ordinance.
As if He had said, "The God of the living," wherefore He adds, "He is not the God of the dead, but of the living;" for He did not say, I have been, but "I am," as if they had been present. But some one perhaps will say, that God spake this only of the soul of Abraham, not of his body; to which I answer, that Abraham implies both, that is, soul and body, so that He also is the God of the body, and the body lives with God, that is, in God’s ordinance.
Theophylact of Ohrid, in the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas), on 12:18–27; translated under John Henry Newman (Oxford, 1841–1845); the text of CrossWire’s public-domain module. The edition
A Byzantine archbishop in Ohrid (in today’s North Macedonia), whose commentaries on the Gospels gather the Greek Fathers.
John Calvin1509–1564ReformedCommentaries · on Mark 12:34Whether this scribe made any farther progress is uncertain; but as he had shown himself to be teachable, Christ stretches out the hand to him, and teaches us, by his example, that we ought to assist those in whom there is any beginning either of docility or of right understanding. There appear to have been two reasons why Christ declared that this scribe was not far from the kingdom of God. It was because he was easily persuaded to do his duty, and because he skillfully distinguished the outward worship of God from necessary duties. Nor was it so much with the design of praising as of exhorting him, that Christ declared that he was near the kingdom of God; and in his person Christ encourages us all, after having once entered into the right path, to proceed with so much the greater cheerfulness.
Whether this scribe made any farther progress is uncertain; but as he had shown himself to be teachable, Christ stretches out the hand to him, and teaches us, by his example, that we ought to assist those in whom there is any beginning either of docility or of right understanding. There appear to have been two reasons why Christ declared that this scribe was not far from the kingdom of God. It was because he was easily persuaded to do his duty, and because he skillfully distinguished the outward worship of God from necessary duties. Nor was it so much with the design of praising as of exhorting him, that Christ declared that he was near the kingdom of God; and in his person Christ encourages us all, after having once entered into the right path, to proceed with so much the greater cheerfulness.
John Calvin, Commentaries, on 12:34; Calvin Translation Society (Edinburgh, 1843–1855); the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
The French reformer of Geneva, from whose teaching the Reformed and Presbyterian churches come.
John Calvin1509–1564ReformedCommentaries · on Mark 12:41–44This reply of Christ contains a highly useful doctrine that whatever men offer to God ought to be estimated not by its apparent value, … but only by the feeling of the heart, and that the holy affection of him who according to his small means, offers to God the little that he has, is more worthy of esteem than that of him who offers a hundred times more out of his abundance. … This widow must have been a person of no ordinary piety, who, rather than come empty into the presence of God, chose to part with her own living. And our Lord applauds this sincerity, because, forgetting herself, she wished to testify that she and all that she possessed belonged to God.
This reply of Christ contains a highly useful doctrine that whatever men offer to God ought to be estimated not by its apparent value, … but only by the feeling of the heart, and that the holy affection of him who according to his small means, offers to God the little that he has, is more worthy of esteem than that of him who offers a hundred times more out of his abundance. … This widow must have been a person of no ordinary piety, who, rather than come empty into the presence of God, chose to part with her own living. And our Lord applauds this sincerity, because, forgetting herself, she wished to testify that she and all that she possessed belonged to God.
John Calvin, Commentaries, on 12:41–44; Calvin Translation Society (Edinburgh, 1843–1855); the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
The French reformer of Geneva, from whose teaching the Reformed and Presbyterian churches come.
Matthew Henry1662–1714English PresbyterianCommentary on the Whole Bible · on Mark 12:1–6Members of the church are God's tenants, and they have both a good Landlord and a good bargain, and may live well upon it, if it be not their own fault. … He was not hasty in his demands, nor high, for he did not send for the rent till they could make it, at the season; nor did he put them to the trouble of making money of it, but was willing to take it in specie. … God did at length send them his Son, his well-beloved; it was therefore so much the greater kindness in him to send him; as in Jacob to send Joseph to visit his brethren, Gen 37:14.
Members of the church are God's tenants, and they have both a good Landlord and a good bargain, and may live well upon it, if it be not their own fault. … He was not hasty in his demands, nor high, for he did not send for the rent till they could make it, at the season; nor did he put them to the trouble of making money of it, but was willing to take it in specie. … God did at length send them his Son, his well-beloved; it was therefore so much the greater kindness in him to send him; as in Jacob to send Joseph to visit his brethren, Gen 37:14.
Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on 12:1–12; 1706–1714; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
An English Presbyterian minister whose commentary on the whole Bible Protestants have read for three centuries.
Adam Clarkec. 1760–1832MethodistCommentary on the Holy Bible · on Mark 12:41–44The prutah was the smallest coin in use among the Jews: and there is a canon among the rabbins that no person shall put less than two prutahs into the treasury. This poor widow would not give less, and her poverty prevented her from giving more. … Never did any king come near the liberality of this widow; she gave all that she had, … her whole life, i.e. all that she had to provide for one day's sustenance, and could have no more till by her labor she had acquired it. What trust must there be in the Divine Providence to perform such an act as this!
The prutah was the smallest coin in use among the Jews: and there is a canon among the rabbins that no person shall put less than two prutahs into the treasury. This poor widow would not give less, and her poverty prevented her from giving more. … Never did any king come near the liberality of this widow; she gave all that she had, … her whole life, i.e. all that she had to provide for one day's sustenance, and could have no more till by her labor she had acquired it. What trust must there be in the Divine Providence to perform such an act as this!
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Holy Bible, on 12:41–44; 1810–1826; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
A Methodist preacher and scholar from Ulster, whose commentary on the whole Bible took him nearly forty years.
Mark 12
Mark 12:1–44, World English Bible
Mark 12 in the Bible · Told in the Story: Chapter 49, By What Authority?, Chapter 50, Woe to You
What others have written
8 passages from writers of 3 traditions, in their own words, each with their dates and tradition. The site doesn’t say who is right: read them beside the verses. About these
Oldest first.
Bedec. 673–735Early church, Westin the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas) · on Mark 12:32–34He shews when he says, "this is greater than all sacrifices," that a grave question was often debated between the scribes and Pharisees, which was the first commandment, or the greatest of the Divine law; that is, some praised offerings and sacrifices, others preferred acts of faith and love, because many of the fathers before the law pleased God by that faith only, which works by love. This scribe shews that he was of the latter opinion. … But the reason why he was not far from the kingdom of God was, that he proved himself to be a favourer of that opinion, which is proper to the New Testament and to Gospel perfection.
Bede, in the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas), on 12:28–34; translated under John Henry Newman (Oxford, 1841–1845); the text of CrossWire’s public-domain module. The edition
A monk of Jarrow in northern England, called the Venerable Bede, who wrote on the Gospels and the history of the English church.
Theophylact of Ohridc. 1050–1107Orthodoxin the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas) · on Mark 12:10–11The stone then which the builders refused, the same has become the head-stone of the corner, that is, of the Church. For the Church is, as it were, the corner, joining together Jews and Gentiles; and this corner has been made by the Lord, and is wonderful in our eyes, that is, in the eyes of the faithful … The Church indeed is wonderful, as it were resting on wonders, for the Lord worked with the Apostles, and confirmed the word with signs.
Theophylact of Ohrid, in the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas), on 12:1–12; translated under John Henry Newman (Oxford, 1841–1845); the text of CrossWire’s public-domain module. The edition
A Byzantine archbishop in Ohrid (in today’s North Macedonia), whose commentaries on the Gospels gather the Greek Fathers.
Theophylact of Ohridc. 1050–1107Orthodoxin the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas) · on Mark 12:16–17As if He had said, Give what bears an image to him whose image it bears, that is, the penny to Caesar; for we can both pay Caesar his tribute, and offer to God what is His own. … The inevitable wants of our bodies is as Caesar unto each of us; the Lord therefore orders that there should be given to the body its own, that is, food and raiment, and to God the things that are God’s.
Theophylact of Ohrid, in the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas), on 12:13–17; translated under John Henry Newman (Oxford, 1841–1845); the text of CrossWire’s public-domain module. The edition
A Byzantine archbishop in Ohrid (in today’s North Macedonia), whose commentaries on the Gospels gather the Greek Fathers.
Theophylact of Ohridc. 1050–1107Orthodoxin the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas) · on Mark 12:26–27As if He had said, "The God of the living," wherefore He adds, "He is not the God of the dead, but of the living;" for He did not say, I have been, but "I am," as if they had been present. But some one perhaps will say, that God spake this only of the soul of Abraham, not of his body; to which I answer, that Abraham implies both, that is, soul and body, so that He also is the God of the body, and the body lives with God, that is, in God’s ordinance.
Theophylact of Ohrid, in the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas), on 12:18–27; translated under John Henry Newman (Oxford, 1841–1845); the text of CrossWire’s public-domain module. The edition
A Byzantine archbishop in Ohrid (in today’s North Macedonia), whose commentaries on the Gospels gather the Greek Fathers.
John Calvin1509–1564ReformedCommentaries · on Mark 12:34Whether this scribe made any farther progress is uncertain; but as he had shown himself to be teachable, Christ stretches out the hand to him, and teaches us, by his example, that we ought to assist those in whom there is any beginning either of docility or of right understanding. There appear to have been two reasons why Christ declared that this scribe was not far from the kingdom of God. It was because he was easily persuaded to do his duty, and because he skillfully distinguished the outward worship of God from necessary duties. Nor was it so much with the design of praising as of exhorting him, that Christ declared that he was near the kingdom of God; and in his person Christ encourages us all, after having once entered into the right path, to proceed with so much the greater cheerfulness.
John Calvin, Commentaries, on 12:34; Calvin Translation Society (Edinburgh, 1843–1855); the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
The French reformer of Geneva, from whose teaching the Reformed and Presbyterian churches come.
John Calvin1509–1564ReformedCommentaries · on Mark 12:41–44This reply of Christ contains a highly useful doctrine that whatever men offer to God ought to be estimated not by its apparent value, … but only by the feeling of the heart, and that the holy affection of him who according to his small means, offers to God the little that he has, is more worthy of esteem than that of him who offers a hundred times more out of his abundance. … This widow must have been a person of no ordinary piety, who, rather than come empty into the presence of God, chose to part with her own living. And our Lord applauds this sincerity, because, forgetting herself, she wished to testify that she and all that she possessed belonged to God.
John Calvin, Commentaries, on 12:41–44; Calvin Translation Society (Edinburgh, 1843–1855); the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
The French reformer of Geneva, from whose teaching the Reformed and Presbyterian churches come.
Matthew Henry1662–1714English PresbyterianCommentary on the Whole Bible · on Mark 12:1–6Members of the church are God's tenants, and they have both a good Landlord and a good bargain, and may live well upon it, if it be not their own fault. … He was not hasty in his demands, nor high, for he did not send for the rent till they could make it, at the season; nor did he put them to the trouble of making money of it, but was willing to take it in specie. … God did at length send them his Son, his well-beloved; it was therefore so much the greater kindness in him to send him; as in Jacob to send Joseph to visit his brethren, Gen 37:14.
Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on 12:1–12; 1706–1714; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
An English Presbyterian minister whose commentary on the whole Bible Protestants have read for three centuries.
Adam Clarkec. 1760–1832MethodistCommentary on the Holy Bible · on Mark 12:41–44The prutah was the smallest coin in use among the Jews: and there is a canon among the rabbins that no person shall put less than two prutahs into the treasury. This poor widow would not give less, and her poverty prevented her from giving more. … Never did any king come near the liberality of this widow; she gave all that she had, … her whole life, i.e. all that she had to provide for one day's sustenance, and could have no more till by her labor she had acquired it. What trust must there be in the Divine Providence to perform such an act as this!
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Holy Bible, on 12:41–44; 1810–1826; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
A Methodist preacher and scholar from Ulster, whose commentary on the whole Bible took him nearly forty years.