Luke 20

One day Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and telling them the good news. The chief priests and the scribes came up to him, along with the elders.

1And it came to pass, that on one of those days, as he taught the people in the temple, and preached the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes came upon him with the elders,

NoteThe scribes were the professional experts in the law of Moses, the men who copied it, taught it and ruled on what it required. Together with the chief priests, the senior officials who ran the temple, and the elders, the leading heads of families, they formed the council that governed Jewish religious life in Jerusalem. So this is the whole leadership arriving at once, not a casual group of critics. The temple here means its outer courts, wide public spaces where teachers gathered listeners. The King James "preached the gospel" translates a single Greek verb meaning to announce good news; in 1611 it did not yet suggest delivering a sermon.

2They said to him, "Tell us, what right do you have to do these things? Who gave you this authority?"

2And spake unto him, saying, Tell us, by what authority doest thou these things? or who is he that gave thee this authority?

3He answered them, "I will ask you a question too. Answer me:

3And he answered and said unto them, I will also ask you one thing; and answer me:

4John's baptism, where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or was it from people?"

4The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men?

Note"From heaven" was a standard respectful way of saying "from God." Devout Jews often avoided saying God's name directly and substituted words like heaven. The question is whether John was acting on God's commission or on his own initiative.

5They talked it over among themselves. They said, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask, 'Then why didn't you believe him?'

5And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then believed ye him not?

6But if we say, 'From people,' all the crowd will throw stones at us to kill us, because they are convinced that John was a prophet."

6But and if we say, Of men; all the people will stone us: for they be persuaded that John was a prophet.

NoteStoning was the method of execution named in the law of Moses for certain offenses, and a crowd could also carry it out as mob violence without any trial. The leaders are calculating that publicly denying a popular prophet's commission from God could get them killed on the spot.

7So they answered that they could not tell where it came from.

7And they answered, that they could not tell whence it was.

8Then Jesus said to them, "Then I will not tell you what authority I have for doing these things either."

8And Jesus said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.

9Then he began to tell the people this story. "A man planted a vineyard, rented it out to some farmers, and went away to a distant country for a long time.

9Then began he to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time.

NoteThe King James "husbandmen" means farmers, not husbands. Specifically they are tenant farmers. Large estates owned by absentee landlords and worked by tenants who paid rent as a share of the crop were ordinary in first-century Galilee, and so were disputes between those tenants and the owner's collectors. A newly planted vineyard also takes several years before it bears a usable crop, which fits the owner's long absence.

10At harvest time he sent a servant to the farmers, so they would give him his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But the farmers beat the servant and sent him away with nothing.

10And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard: but the husbandmen beat him, and sent him away empty.

11So the owner sent another servant. They beat that one too, treated him shamefully, and sent him away with nothing.

11And again he sent another servant: and they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty.

Note"Entreated him shamefully" in 1611 English means treated him shamefully. "Entreat" then meant to handle or deal with someone; it did not mean to beg.

12Then he sent a third servant. They wounded that one as well and threw him out.

12And again he sent a third: and they wounded him also, and cast him out.

13Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What should I do? I will send my son, the one I love. Maybe they will respect him when they see him.'

13Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him.

NoteThe Greek word behind "beloved" was also used to mean only, or only and dearly loved, as of an only child.

14But when the farmers saw the son, they talked it over with each other. They said, 'This is the heir. Come on, let's kill him, so the property will be ours.'

14But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.

NoteProperty left with no heir could in practice be claimed by those already occupying and working it. Killing the son, especially if the tenants assumed the distant owner was dead and the son had come to take possession, was a calculated move to keep the land.

15So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Now what will the owner of the vineyard do to them?

15So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do unto them?

16He will come and destroy those farmers, and he will give the vineyard to others." When the people heard this, they said, "May that never happen!"

16He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it, they said, God forbid.

NoteThe King James "God forbid" has no word for God behind it. The Greek is a short set phrase meaning roughly "may it never happen," the ordinary way of recoiling from a suggestion.

17Jesus looked straight at them and said, "Then what does this mean, the words that are written: 'The stone the builders threw away has become the cornerstone'?

17And he beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?

NoteThe quotation is Psalm 118:22, from a group of psalms sung at the great festivals and familiar to everyone listening. "The head of the corner" is the single most important stone in a building: either the cornerstone that sets the lines of the walls or the stone at the top that locks an arch together. Either way it is the one stone the builders cannot do without.

18Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces. And anyone that stone falls on will be crushed to powder."

18Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

NoteThe two halves of the saying draw on other stone images from Israel's scriptures: a stone people trip over and break themselves on (Isaiah 8:14-15) and a stone that falls and smashes what it lands on (Daniel 2:34-35). "Grind him to powder" translates a word used for crushing or winnowing something to dust.

19That very hour the chief priests and the scribes wanted to arrest him, because they understood that he had told this story against them. But they were afraid of the people.

19And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him; and they feared the people: for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them.

Note"Lay hands on him" here means arrest him, not simply touch him.

20So they watched him closely. They sent spies who pretended to be honest men, hoping to catch him in something he said. Then they could hand him over to the power and authority of the Roman governor.

20And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor.

Note"Just men" in 1611 English means honest, upright men. The governor is the Roman prefect, Pontius Pilate. Only the Roman authorities could try a political charge and carry out an execution, so what the spies want is a sentence that can be reported to Rome as rebellion.

21The spies asked him, "Teacher, we know that what you say and teach is right. You do not treat one person as more important than another, but you teach the way of God truthfully.

21And they asked him, saying, Master, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, neither acceptest thou the person of any, but teachest the way of God truly:

Note"Neither acceptest thou the person of any" renders a Hebrew idiom, literally to lift up someone's face, meaning to show favoritism, as a corrupt judge might toward a rich or powerful party. The compliment is designed to make it awkward for him to give a cautious, politically safe answer.

22Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, the Roman emperor, or not?"

22Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or no?

NoteThe tax in question is the annual head tax paid directly to Rome by every adult in Judea. It was imposed when Judea came under direct Roman rule in AD 6 and immediately provoked an armed revolt; many Jews regarded paying it as conceding that a foreign emperor, rather than God, owned the land. So a yes would discredit Jesus with the crowd, and a no could be reported to the governor as incitement.

23But Jesus saw the trick they were playing. He said to them, "Why are you testing me?

23But he perceived their craftiness, and said unto them, Why tempt ye me?

24Show me a silver coin. Whose picture and whose name are on it?" They answered, "Caesar's."

24Shew me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Caesar’s.

NoteThe King James "penny" is the denarius, a Roman silver coin worth roughly a day's pay for a laborer. "Superscription" means the inscription stamped around the coin's face. The denarius then circulating carried the head of the emperor Tiberius and lettering naming him son of the deified Augustus, along with a priestly title, so handling one was a small daily reminder of who ruled.

25He said to them, "Then give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God."

25And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s.

Note"Render" translates a Greek verb meaning give back or pay back, the word used for settling a debt or returning what already belongs to someone, rather than simply handing something over.

26They were not able to catch him in anything he said in front of the people. Amazed at his answer, they said nothing more.

26And they could not take hold of his words before the people: and they marvelled at his answer, and held their peace.

27Then some of the Sadducees came to him. The Sadducees say that no one rises from the dead. They asked him,

27Then came to him certain of the Sadducees, which deny that there is any resurrection; and they asked him,

NoteThe Sadducees were the aristocratic party centered on the temple, drawn largely from the leading priestly families, and they worked with the Roman administration. They treated the five books of Moses as the binding standard and rejected the later traditions the Pharisees accepted; finding no clear teaching there about the dead rising, they denied it. That is why the test case they bring is built out of a law of Moses.

28"Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children who will count as his brother's.

28Saying, Master, Moses wrote unto us, If any man’s brother die, having a wife, and he die without children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.

NoteThe rule is in Deuteronomy 25:5-6. It is sometimes called levirate marriage, from the Latin word for a husband's brother. If a man died childless, his brother was to marry the widow, and the first son she bore counted legally as the dead man's, so that his name and his share of the family land did not vanish. "Raise up seed" means produce offspring.

29Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a wife and died without children.

29There were therefore seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and died without children.

30Then the second brother married her, and he died childless too.

30And the second took her to wife, and he died childless.

31Then the third married her. In the same way, all seven married her, left no children, and died.

31And the third took her; and in like manner the seven also: and they left no children, and died.

32Last of all, the woman died too.

32Last of all the woman died also.

33So when the dead rise, whose wife will she be? All seven were married to her."

33Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them is she? for seven had her to wife.

34Jesus answered them, "The people of this present age marry, and are given in marriage.

34And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage:

Note"The children of this world" is literally "the sons of this age." In Hebrew and Aramaic idiom, "son of" often means belonging to or marked by something rather than descended from it, and the same idiom lies behind "the children of the resurrection" in verse 36. "This age" and the age to come were the standard Jewish way of naming the present order and the one expected to follow it. Note also that "marry" is said of the men and "are given in marriage" of the women, who were handed over by a father or guardian; the pair of verbs covers both sides of the arrangement.

35But those who are counted worthy to share in that coming age, and in the resurrection from the dead, do not marry and are not given in marriage.

35But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage:

36They cannot die any more, because they are like the angels. They are God's children, since they are children of the resurrection.

36Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.

Note"Equal unto the angels" translates a single Greek word meaning angel-like. The point of likeness is the one the sentence names, deathlessness. The Sadducees were also reported to be skeptical about angels, which sharpens the comparison.

37Even Moses showed that the dead are raised. In the part about the burning bush, he calls the Lord 'the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'

37Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

Note"At the bush" means in the passage about the burning bush, Exodus 3. Scrolls had no chapter or verse numbers, so a passage was cited by a well-known phrase from it, much as we might say "in the Lord's Prayer."

38For he is not the God of dead people, but of living people, because to him they are all alive."

38For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.

39Then some of the scribes said, "Teacher, you have answered well."

39Then certain of the scribes answering said, Master, thou hast well said.

40And after that they did not dare to ask him any question at all.

40And after that they durst not ask him any question at all.

41Then Jesus said to them, "How can people say that the Christ, God's promised king, is David's son?

41And he said unto them, How say they that Christ is David’s son?

Note"Christ" is the Greek word for Messiah, the anointed one, the title of the king God had promised would come from David's family. "David's son" means a descendant of David, not a literal child of his.

42David himself says in the book of Psalms: 'The LORD said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand,

42And David himself saith in the book of Psalms, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,

NoteThe quotation is Psalm 110:1. The King James prints the first "LORD" in capital letters to signal that the Hebrew there has the personal name of God, while the second "Lord" translates a different word meaning master or sovereign. So the line runs: God said to my master. Sitting at a king's right hand was the place of the second in command.

43until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.'

43Till I make thine enemies thy footstool.

NotePutting a defeated enemy under the victor's feet was a standard ancient image of total conquest. Kings were sometimes portrayed with footstools carved with the figures of the peoples they had beaten.

44So David calls him 'Lord.' How then can he be David's son?"

44David therefore calleth him Lord, how is he then his son?

45Then, while all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples,

45Then in the audience of all the people he said unto his disciples,

46"Watch out for the scribes. They like to walk around in long robes. They love being greeted with respect in the marketplaces, having the best seats in the synagogues, and having the places of honor at banquets.

46Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts;

NoteEach item is a visible marker of rank. Long robes were the flowing garments of men of standing, impractical for manual work and so a statement that the wearer did none. The "greetings in the markets" were public salutations by title, being hailed with honor in the street. The best synagogue seats faced the congregation, so whoever sat in them was seen by everyone. "The chief rooms at feasts" means the chief places, the couches nearest the host at a banquet, not separate rooms.

47They take away widows' houses, and they make long prayers as a show. These men will be punished all the more."

47Which devour widows’ houses, and for a shew make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation.

NoteA widow with no adult son or male relative had no standing to manage property herself and commonly relied on a legal expert to act as trustee or advisor. "Devour widows' houses" points at that relationship going wrong: excessive fees, mismanagement, or taking outright the estate that was her only security. "Damnation" in 1611 English means condemnation, a sentence passed at judgment; it did not carry the narrow modern sense of hell.