Mark 12:14-19

12:14 When they came they said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are truthful and do not court anyone’s favor, because you show no partiality ¹  but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. ²  Is it right ³  to pay taxes ⁴  to Caesar ⁵  or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?” 12:15 But he saw through their hypocrisy and said ⁶  to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius ⁷  and let me look at it.” 12:16 So ⁸  they brought one, and he said to them, “Whose image ⁹  is this, and whose inscription?” They replied, ¹⁰  “Caesar’s.” 12:17 Then Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” ¹¹  And they were utterly amazed at him.

Marriage and the Resurrection

12:18 Sadducees ¹²  (who say there is no resurrection) ¹³  also came to him and asked him, ¹⁴  12:19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us: ‘If a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, that man ¹⁵  must marry ¹⁶  the widow and father children ¹⁷  for his brother.’ ¹⁸ 

[12:14]  ¹ tn Grk “and it is not a concern to you about anyone because you do not see the face of men.”

[12:14]  ² sn Teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Very few comments are as deceitful as this one; they did not really believe this at all. The question of the Pharisees and Herodians was specifically designed to trap Jesus.

[12:14]  ³ tn Or “lawful,” that is, in accordance with God’s divine law. On the syntax of ἔξεστιν (exestin) with an infinitive and accusative, see BDF §409.3.

[12:14]  ⁴ tn According to L&N 57.180 the term κῆνσος (khnso") was borrowed from Latin and referred to a poll tax, a tax paid by each adult male to the Roman government.

[12:14]  ⁵ tn Or “the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

[12:15]  ⁶ tn Grk “Aware of their hypocrisy he said.”

[12:15]  ⁷ 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.

[12:16]  ¹¹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate their response to Jesus’ request for a coin.

[12:16]  ¹² tn Or “whose likeness.”

[12:16]  ¹³ tn Grk “they said to him.”

[12:17]  ¹⁶ sn Jesus’ answer to give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s was a both/and, not the questioners’ either/or. So he slipped out of their trap.

[12:18]  ²¹ sn The Sadducees controlled the official political structures of Judaism at this time, being the majority members of the Sanhedrin. They were known as extremely strict on law and order issues (Josephus, J. W. 2.8.2 [2.119], 2.8.14 [2.164-166]; Ant. 13.5.9 [13.171-173], 13.10.6 [13.293-298], 18.1.2 [18.11], 18.1.4 [18.16-17], 20.9.1 [20.199]; Life 2 [10-11]). They also did not believe in resurrection or in angels, an important detail in v. 25. See also Matt 3:7, 16:1-12, 22:23-34; Luke 20:27-38; Acts 4:1, 5:17, 23:6-8.

[12:18]  ²² sn This remark is best regarded as a parenthetical note by the author.

[12:18]  ²³ tn Grk “and asked him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[12:19]  ²⁶ tn Grk “his brother”; but this would be redundant in English with the same phrase “his brother” at the end of the verse, so most modern translations render this phrase “the man” (so NIV, NRSV).

[12:19]  ²⁷ tn The use of ἵνα (Jina) with imperatival force is unusual (BDF §470.1).

[12:19]  ²⁸ tn Grk “raise up seed” (an idiom for fathering children).

[12:19]  ²⁹ sn A quotation from Deut 25:5. This practice is called levirate marriage (see also Ruth 4:1-12; Mishnah, m. Yevamot; Josephus, Ant. 4.8.23 [4.254-256]). The levirate law is described in Deut 25:5-10. The brother of a man who died without a son had an obligation to marry his brother’s widow. This served several purposes: It provided for the widow in a society where a widow with no children to care for her would be reduced to begging, and it preserved the name of the deceased, who would be regarded as the legal father of the first son produced from that marriage.