Mark 12:13

Paying Taxes to Caesar

12:13 Then ¹  they sent some of the Pharisees ²  and Herodians ³  to trap him with his own words. ⁴ 

Mark 12:15

12:15 But he saw through their hypocrisy and said ⁵  to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius ⁶  and let me look at it.”

[12:13]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[12:13]  ² sn See the note on Pharisees in 2:16.

[12:13]  ³ sn Pharisees and Herodians made a very interesting alliance. W. W. Wessel (“Mark,” EBC 8:733) comments: “The Herodians were as obnoxious to the Pharisees on political grounds as the Sadducees were on theological grounds. Yet the two groups united in their opposition to Jesus. Collaboration in wickedness, as well as goodness, has great power. Their purpose was to trip Jesus up in his words so that he would lose the support of the people, leaving the way open for them to destroy him.” See also the note on “Herodians” in Mark 3:6.

[12:13]  ⁴ tn Grk “trap him in word.”

[12:15]  ⁵ tn Grk “Aware of their hypocrisy he said.”

[12:15]  ⁶ tn Here the specific name of the coin was retained in the translation, because not all coins in circulation in Palestine at the time carried the image of Caesar. In other places δηνάριον (dhnarion) has been translated simply as “silver coin” with an explanatory note.