Mark 12:20-36

12:20 There were seven brothers. The first one married, ¹  and when he died he had no children. 12:21 The second married her and died without any children, and likewise the third. 12:22 None of the seven had children. Finally, the woman died too. 12:23 In the resurrection, when they rise again, ²  whose wife will she be? For all seven had married her.” ³  12:24 Jesus said to them, “Aren’t you deceived ⁴  for this reason, because you don’t know the scriptures or the power of God? 12:25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels ⁵  in heaven. 12:26 Now as for the dead being raised, ⁶  have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, ⁷  how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the ⁸  God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? ⁹  12:27 He is not the God of the dead but of the living. ¹⁰  You are badly mistaken!”

The Greatest Commandment

12:28 Now ¹¹  one of the experts in the law ¹²  came and heard them debating. When he saw that Jesus ¹³  answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 12:29 Jesus answered, “The most important is: ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 12:30 Love ¹⁴  the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ ¹⁵  12:31 The second is: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ¹⁶  There is no other commandment greater than these.” 12:32 The expert in the law said to him, “That is true, Teacher; you are right to say that he is one, and there is no one else besides him. ¹⁷  12:33 And to love him with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength ¹⁸  and to love your neighbor as yourself ¹⁹  is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 12:34 When Jesus saw that he had answered thoughtfully, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Then no one dared any longer to question him.

The Messiah: David’s Son and Lord

12:35 While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he said, “How is it that the experts in the law ²⁰  say that the Christ ²¹  is David’s son? ²²  12:36 David himself, by the Holy Spirit, said,

‘The Lord said to my lord, ²³ 

“Sit at my right hand,

until I put your enemies under your feet.”’ ²⁴ 

¹ tn Grk “took a wife” (an idiom for marrying a woman).

² tc The words “when they rise again” are missing from several important witnesses (א B C D L W Δ Ψ 33 579 892 2427 pc c r¹ k sy^p co). They are included in A Θ Ë^1,(13) Ï lat sy^s,h. The strong external pedigree of the shorter reading gives one pause. Nevertheless, the Alexandrian and other mss most likely dropped the words from the text either to conform the wording to the parallel in Matt 22:28 or because “when they rise again” was redundant. But the inclusion of these words is thoroughly compatible with Mark’s usually pleonastic style (see TCGNT 93), and therefore most probably authentic to Mark’s Gospel.

³ tn Grk “For the seven had her as wife.”

⁴ tn Or “mistaken” (cf. BDAG 822 s.v. πλανάω 2.c.γ).

⁵ sn Angels do not die, nor do they eat according to Jewish tradition (1 En. 15:6; 51:4; Wis 5:5; 2 Bar. 51:10; 1QH 3.21-23).

⁶ tn Grk “Now as for the dead that they are raised.”

⁷ sn See Exod 3:6. Jesus used a common form of rabbinic citation here to refer to the passage in question.

⁸ tn Grk “and the,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

⁹ sn A quotation from Exod 3:6.

¹⁰ sn He is not God of the dead but of the living. Jesus’ point was that if God could identify himself as God of the three old patriarchs, then they must still be alive when God spoke to Moses; and so they must be raised.

¹¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

¹² tn Or “One of the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

¹³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁴ tn Grk “You will love.” The future indicative is used here with imperatival force (see ExSyn 452 and 569).

¹⁵ sn A quotation from Deut 6:4-5 and Josh 22:5 (LXX). The fourfold reference to different parts of the person says, in effect, that one should love God with all one’s being.

¹⁶ sn A quotation from Lev 19:18.

¹⁷ sn A quotation from Deut 4:35.

¹⁸ sn A quotation from Deut 6:5.

¹⁹ sn A quotation from Lev 19:18.

²⁰ tn Or “that the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

²¹ tn Or “the Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

²² sn It was a common belief in Judaism that Messiah would be David’s son in that he would come from the lineage of David. On this point the Pharisees agreed and were correct. But their understanding was nonetheless incomplete, for Messiah is also David’s Lord. With this statement Jesus was affirming that, as the Messiah, he is both God and man.

²³ sn The Lord said to my Lord. With David being the speaker, this indicates his respect for his descendant (referred to as my Lord). Jesus was arguing, as the ancient exposition assumed, that the passage is about the Lord’s anointed. The passage looks at an enthronement of this figure and a declaration of honor for him as he takes his place at the side of God. In Jerusalem, the king’s palace was located to the right of the temple to indicate this kind of relationship. Jesus was pressing the language here to get his opponents to reflect on how great Messiah is.

²⁴ sn A quotation from Ps 110:1.