Mark 11:15-14:31

^11:15 They came to Jerusalem, and he entered into the temple, and began to throw out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of those who sold the doves. ¹⁶ He would not allow anyone to carry a container through the temple. ¹⁷ He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations?’ But you have made it a den of robbers.”

¹⁸ The chief cohanim and the scribes heard it, and sought how they might destroy him. For they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.

¹⁹ When evening came, they went out of the city. ²⁰ As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away from the roots. ²¹ Peter, remembering, said to him, “Teacher, look. The fig tree which you cursed has withered away.”

²² Yeshua answered them, “Have faith in God. ²³ Truly I tell you, whoever may tell this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. ²⁴ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. ²⁵ Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father, who is in heaven, may also forgive you your wrongdoing. ²⁶ But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your wrongdoing.”

²⁷ They came again to Jerusalem, and as he was walking in the temple, the chief cohanim, and the scribes, and the elders came to him, ²⁸ and they began saying to him, “By what authority do you do these things? And who gave you this authority to do these things?”

²⁹ Yeshua said to them, “I will also ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ³⁰ The immersion of John—was it from heaven, or from people? Answer me.”

³¹ They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we should say, ‘From heaven;’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ ³² If we should say, ‘From people'”—they feared the crowd, for all held John to really be a prophet. ³³ They answered and said to Yeshua, “We do not know.”

Yeshua said to them, “Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

^12:1 He began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a pit for the winepress, built a tower, rented it out to a farmer, and went on a journey. 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 wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. ⁵ And he sent another; and they killed him; and many others, beating some, and killing some. ⁶ He had one left, a 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 us 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,
the same 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 crowd; for they perceived that he spoke the parable against them. They left him, and went away. ¹³ They sent some of the Pharisees and of 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 do not defer to anyone; for you are not partial to anyone, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? ¹⁵ Should we pay, or should we not pay?”

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 And Yeshua said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

And they were utterly amazed at him.

¹⁸ There came to him Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection. 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 the 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 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 Yeshua said to them, “Is not 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; have you not read in the book of Moses, about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and 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 And one of the scribes came, and heard them questioning together. Seeing that he had answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the greatest of all?”

²⁹ Yeshua answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. ³⁰ And you are love the Lord 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, ‘You are to 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, and with all the understanding, and with 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 Yeshua saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”

No one dared ask him any question after that. ³⁵ Yeshua responded, as he taught in the temple, “How can the scribes say that the Messiah is the son of David? ³⁶ 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 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 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 And he sat down opposite the treasury, and saw how the crowd cast money into the treasury. Many who were rich cast in much. ⁴² A poor widow came, and she cast in two lepta, which equal a kodrantes. ⁴³ He called his talmidim to himself, and said to them, “Truly 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.”

^13:1 As he went out of the temple, one of his talmidim said to him, “Teacher, see what kind of stones and what kind of buildings.”

² And Yeshua said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone on another, which will not be thrown down.”

³ As he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, Jacob, John, and Andrew asked him privately, ⁴ “Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign that these things are all about to be fulfilled?”

⁵ And Yeshua began to say to them, “Be careful that no one leads you astray. ⁶ Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he.’ and will lead many astray.

⁷ “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled. Such things must happen, but the end is not yet. ⁸ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places. There will be famines. These things are the beginning of birth pains. ⁹ But watch yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils. You will be beaten in synagogues. You will stand before rulers and kings for my sake, as a testimony to them. ¹⁰ The Good News must first be preached to all the nations. ¹¹ When they lead you away and deliver you up, do not be anxious beforehand, or premeditate what you will say, but say whatever will be given you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.

¹² “Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child. Children will rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death. ¹³ You will be hated by all for my name’s sake, but he who endures to the end, the same will be saved. ¹⁴ But when you see the abomination of desolation, standing where it ought not (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, ¹⁵ and let him who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter in, to take anything out of his house. ¹⁶ Let him who is in the field not return back to take his coat. ¹⁷ But woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse babies in those days. ¹⁸ And pray that it won’t be in the winter. ¹⁹ For in those days there will be oppression, such as there has not been the like from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will be. ²⁰ Unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh would have been saved; but for the sake of the chosen ones, whom he picked out, he shortened the days. ²¹ Then if anyone tells you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah.’ or, ‘Look, there.’ do not believe it. ²² For there will arise false messiahs and false prophets, and will show signs and wonders, that they may lead astray, if possible, the chosen ones. ²³ But you watch.

“I have told you all things beforehand. ²⁴ But in those days, after that oppression, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, ²⁵ the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken. ²⁶ Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. ²⁷ Then he will send out his angels, and will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from the farthest part of the earth to the farthest part of the sky.

²⁸ “Now from the fig tree, learn this parable. When the branch has now become tender, and puts forth its leaves, you know that the summer is near; ²⁹ even so you also, when you see these things coming to pass, know that it is near, at the doors. ³⁰ Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things happen. ³¹ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. ³² But of that day or the hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³³ Watch, keep alert, and pray; for you do not know when the time is.

³⁴ “It is like a man, traveling to another country, having left his house, and given authority to his servants, and to each one his work, and also commanded the doorkeeper to keep watch. ³⁵ Watch therefore, for you do not know when the lord of the house is coming —at evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning; ³⁶ lest coming suddenly he might find you sleeping. ³⁷ What I tell you, I tell all:  Watch.”

^14:1 It was now two days before the Passover and the feast of Matzah, and the chief cohanim and the scribes sought how they might seize him by deception, and kill him. ² For they said, “Not during the feast, because there might be a riot of the people.”

³ While he was at Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining, a woman came having an alabaster jar of ointment of pure nard—very costly. She broke the jar, and poured it over his head. ⁴ But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and saying, “Why has this ointment been wasted? ⁵ For this ointment might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and given to the poor.” They grumbled against her.

⁶ But Yeshua said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for me. ⁷ For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want to, you can do them good; but you will not always have me. ⁸ She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for the burying. ⁹ Truly I tell you, wherever this Good News may be preached throughout the whole world, that which this woman has done will also be spoken of for a memorial of her.”

¹⁰ Judah Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went away to the chief cohanim, that he might deliver him to them. ¹¹ They, when they heard it, were glad, and promised to give him money. He sought how he might conveniently deliver him. ¹² On the first day of matzah, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his talmidim asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make ready that you may eat the Passover?”

¹³ He sent two of his talmidim, and said to them, “Go into the city, and there you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him, ¹⁴ and wherever he enters in, tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my talmidim?”‘ ¹⁵ He will himself show you a large upper room furnished and ready. Make ready for us there.”

¹⁶ The talmidim went out, and came into the city, and found things as he had said to them, and they prepared the Passover.

¹⁷ When it was evening he came with the twelve. ¹⁸ And as they were reclining and eating, Yeshua said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—he who eats with me.”

¹⁹ And they began to be sorrowful, and to say to him one by one, “Surely not I?” And another said, “Surely not I?”

²⁰ He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, he who dips with me in the dish. ²¹ For the Son of Man goes, even as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had not been born.”

²² As they were eating, he took bread, and when he had blessed, he broke it, and gave to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.”

²³ He took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave to them. They all drank of it. ²⁴ He said to them, “This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many. ²⁵ Truly I tell you, I will no more drink of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it anew in the Kingdom of God.” ²⁶ When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

²⁷ Yeshua said to them, “All of you will fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ ²⁸ However, after I am raised up, I will go before you into Galilee.”

²⁹ But Peter said to him, “Although all will be offended, yet I will not.”

³⁰ Yeshua said to him, “Truly I tell you, that today, even this night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”

³¹ But he insisted, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” They all said the same thing.