JMNT(i)
1 On one of the days during His continuing in teaching the people within the Temple courts (or: grounds), as well as declaring the good news of ease and wellbeing, it then happened [that] the chief (or: leading; ranking) priests and the theologians (scribes; Torah-teachers; scholars) – together with the elders – suddenly took a stand upon the scene.
2 And they spoke up to Him, one after another saying, "Tell us at once in what sort of authority you keep on doing these things, or who is the person giving to you this right?"
3 So making a discerning reply, He said to them, "I, too, will myself proceed asking (or: interrogating) you men a [other MSS: one] question, and you tell Me (and then you folks reply to Me):
4 "The immersion conducted by John (or: John's baptism) – was it from heaven (or: of [the] atmosphere), or of human source?"
5 So then they reasoned together to each other, and drew conclusions, saying, "If we should say (reply),'From heaven,' he will continue saying, 'Why did you not trust and believe in him?'
6 "Yet if we should say (or: reply),'From humans,' all the people will proceed in hurling stones down on us, for they have been persuaded and remain confident that John is to be permanently [held as and reckoned] a prophet."
7 And so they gave the decided answer not to have seen and thus not to know from where (= its source).
8 Then Jesus replied to them, "As for me, neither am I laying it out and saying to you folks in what sort of authority (in union with what privilege) I continue doing these things."
9 Now after that, He began to tell this illustration (parable) to the people: "A person planted a vineyard and then let it out to tenant-farmers (or: leased it to vine-dressers). Next he left home on a journey (or: travels abroad) for an extended period (a considerable time that is sufficient [for the vineyard to produce fruit]).
10 "And then, in the appropriate season, he sent off a slave to the tenant-farmers (vine-dressers) with the purpose that they will proceed giving to him [his portion] from the fruit (or: crop) of the vineyard. But the tenants (vineyard workers; cultivators), after whipping (lashing) and beating [him] to the point or removing skin, sent him forth (or: out) and away empty-handed.
11 "So next, he put forth a different slave to send. Yet that one also, after lashing and beating [him] – as well as dishonoring [him] – they sent forth and away empty-handed.
12 "Then he put forth a third one to send – but, after wounding, injuring and traumatizing this one, they threw [him] out.
13 "So the owner (lord) of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do?... I will proceed sending my son, the beloved one (may signify: the only one). All things being equal, chances are they will proceed being turned within so as to be showing respect to this one.'
14 "Now upon seeing him, the tenant-farmers (vineyard cultivators) began reasoning and deliberating with one another, one after another saying, 'This one is the heir! We should (or: Let us) at once kill him off, so that the inheritance can (or: may) come to be ours!'
15 "And so, after throwing him outside the vineyard, they killed [him]. What, therefore, will the owner (lord) of the vineyard proceed doing to them?...
16 "He will proceed in coming and will be progressively destroying these tenant-farmers, and then he will be progressively giving the vineyard to other folks." Now upon hearing [this], they said, "May it not happen (or: come to that)!"
17 But He, looking intently at them (or: staring in their [faces]), said, "What, then, is the [meaning of] this having been written, 'A stone which the builders rejected – after examining it – has come to be [placed] into [the] head (= source) of [the] corner (or: ended up as the keystone)'? [Ps. 118:22]
18 "Every person falling upon that stone will be progressively crushed together and shattered, yet upon whom it may (or: should) fall, it will continue winnowing him [like grain]."
19 At this, the scribes (scholars and theologians) and the chief priests sought (tried to find [some way]) to throw [their] hands on Him in that very hour, and yet they feared the people. You see, they realized that He spoke this illustration (parable) [with an aim] toward them.
20 Then, while watching [Him] closely from the side, they dispatched men [who were to be] let down within the midst [of His teaching] as spies and eavesdroppers, manifesting their own opinions and interpreting themselves to be in accord with the way pointed out (or: critically judging themselves to be honest and upright), with the purpose that could lay hold upon (or: catch) and seize His word (or: message), so as to hand Him over to the rule (or: domain) and authority of the governor.
21 And so they questioned Him, saying, "Teacher, we have seen and so know that you habitually speak and are repeatedly teaching correctly (or: straightly), and you consistently do not receive folks or show partiality based on peoples' faces or appearances, but to the contrary you continuously teach the Way of God (or: God's path) based on truth and reality.
22 "[Therefore tell us:], is it allowed by our custom and the Law for us to give (= pay) [the] annual land tax to Caesar (i.e., the Roman Emperor), or not?"
23 Now mentally pinning down their capabilities and contemplating what they were up to, He said to them,
24 "Why are you now testing Me? Show Me a denarius." So they showed [one] to Him, and He said, "Whose image and inscription does it have?" So they replied, "Caesar's."
25 And so He said to them, "Well then, give back Caesar's thing to Caesar – and God's things to God."
26 But they had no strength to get a grasp on [so as to comprehend] or to take a firm hold upon [so as to control or make use of] that which He spoke (or: the effect of the flow of His spoken words) in front of the people – and so they remained silent (kept still), while wondering in amazement, and marvelling on His discerning response.
27 Now later, some of the Sadducees – folks normally saying there is to be no resurrection – upon approaching
28 posed a question to Him, presently saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote to (or: for) us, 'If anyone's brother should die off, and having a wife, this man may be childless, that his brother should take the wife (i.e., the widow) and should be raising up out of [her] a seed (= offspring; progeny) to and for his brother (i.e., to preserve the man's family line).' [Deut. 25:5]
29 "Now then, there were seven brothers; and the first, upon taking a wife, died childless.
30 "And so the second got the wife, and this one also died childless.
31 "Then the third took her. Now, similarly also, the seven men did not leave children behind, and also died off.
32 "Lastly, the woman also died off.
33 "Therefore, in the resurrection, of which of them does the woman become a wife – for you see, the seven men had her [as] a wife?"
34 So Jesus said to them, "The sons of this age (= those now living and having the qualities and characteristics of this present time and arrangement) are normally marrying and being given in marriage.
35 "Yet those folks being considered worthy (of complete equal value) of that Age – even to hit the target of the resurrection, the one out from among [the] dead folks – are neither normally marrying nor are being habitually given in marriage,
36 "for you see, neither are they any longer able to die off, for they exist being (or: are) the equivalence of agents (or: identical to and the same thing as messengers) and they are God's sons (= the offsprings of God) – being sons of the resurrection (= the offsprings of, and from, the resurrection; or: = those having the qualities and characteristic of the resurrection).
37 "Yet that the dead people are habitually (or: repeatedly; or: continuously) being raised up, even Moses divulged (or: discloses) at the thornbush, as he continues terming (or: speaking of) [the] Lord [= Yahweh] 'the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' [Ex. 3:6]
38 "Yet He is not a God of dead folks, but to the contrary, of continuously living ones – for you see, in Him (and: with Him; and: by Him; and: to Him) all people are continuously living."
39 Now, giving an approving response, some of the scribes (scholars and theologians; Torah experts) said, "Well said, Teacher (or: [Rabbi], you answered beautifully and ideally)."
40 You see, they were no longer daring, or having courage, to continue asking Him a single question (or: anything).
41 In turn, He said to them, "How are they normally saying [that] the Christ (the Anointed One; = the expected Messiah) is to be David's son (= a descendant of David)?
42 "For David himself says in the scroll of Psalms, '[The] Lord [= Yahweh] said to my Lord, "Continue sitting, from My right (= Be constantly ruling from out of My high positions of power and places of honor)
43 Until I should be placing (setting) those hostile to You [as] a footstool of Your feet.' [Ps. 110:1]
44 "Therefore, David is habitually calling Him 'Lord (Master; Owner),' and so how is He his Son?"
45 Now, while all the people continued listening (or: in the hearing of all the people), He said to the disciples,
46 "Be habitually holding your focus and attention away from the scholars and theologians (the scribes; the Torah, or, Bible experts) – those continuously wanting to be habitually walking around in religious and stately robes and being fond of deferential greetings in the marketplaces (i.e., in public, where folks often gather), and [liking] prominent (or: front) seating in the synagogues (places of corporate worship and study of the Scriptures), as well as first places of reclining (or: prominent or best couches; = the places of honor) at banquets –
47 "folks who [in reality] are habitually devouring the houses (or: eating down the households) of the widows, and then in pretense (or: for a front which is put to make a show or an appearance for pretext) they are constantly making long prayers. These people will continue and progressively be receiving more excessive result of judgment (or: will get a more abundant effect of the separating and the decision)."