Part 19 (1/2)

(39)And some of the Pharisees from the mult.i.tude said to him: Teacher, rebuke thy disciples. (40)And answering he said to them: I tell you that if these shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out.

(41)And when he came near, as he saw the city, he wept over it, (42)saying: If even thou hadst known, at least in this thy day, the things that belong to thy peace! But now they are hidden from thine eyes. (43)For days will come upon thee, that thine enemies will cast up a mound about thee, and compa.s.s thee round, and shut thee in on every side, (44)and will level thee with the ground, and thy children within thee, and will not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

(45)And entering into the temple, he began to cast out those who sold; (46)saying to them: It is written, And my house shall be a house of prayer; but ye made it a den of robbers.

(47)And he was teaching daily in the temple; and the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people were seeking to destroy him, (48)and could not find what they might do; for all the people hung, listening, upon him.

XX.

AND it came to pa.s.s, on one of the days, as he was teaching the people in the temple, and publis.h.i.+ng the good news, that the chief priests and the scribes came to him with the elders, (2)and spoke to him, saying: Tell us, by what authority doest thou these things? Or who is he that gave thee this authority? (3)And he answering said to them: I also will ask you one thing; and tell it me. (4)John's immersion, was it from heaven, or from men? (5)And they reasoned with themselves, saying: If we say, From heaven, he will say, Why, then did ye not believe him? (6)But if we say, From men, all the people will stone us; for they are persuaded that John was a prophet. (7)And they answered, that they knew not whence it was. (8)And Jesus said to them: Neither do I say to you, by what authority I do these things.

(9)And he began to speak to the people this parable: A man planted a vineyard, and let it out to husbandmen, and went abroad for a long time. (10)And 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. (11)And again he sent another servant; and him also, having beaten and treated him shamefully, they sent away empty. (12)And again he sent a third; and they wounded him also, and cast him out.

(13)And the lord of the vineyard said: What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps, seeing him, they will reverence him. (14)But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying: This is the heir; come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may become ours. (15)So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do to them? (16)He will come and destroy these husbandmen, and will give the vineyard to others. And hearing it, they said: Far be it! (17)And he, looking on them, said: What then is this that is written,

The stone which the builders disallowed, The same is become the head of the corner.

(18)Every one that falls upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

(19)And the scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him in that hour; and they feared the people; for they knew that he spoke this parable against them.

(20)And watching him[20:20], they sent forth spies, feigning themselves to be just men, that they might take hold of his words, in order to deliver him up to the magistracy, and to the authority of the governor. (21)And they asked him, saying: Teacher, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, and regardest not the person of any, but teachest the way of G.o.d truly. (22)Is it lawful that we should give tribute to Caesar, or not? (23)And perceiving their craftiness, he said to them: (24)Show me a denary[20:24]. Whose image and inscription has it? And answering they said: Caesar's. (25)And he said to them: Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to G.o.d the things that are G.o.d's. (26)And they could not take hold of his words before the people; and they marveled at his answer, and held their peace.

(27)And some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, coming to him, asked him, (28)saying: Teacher, Moses wrote to us, if a man's brother die, having a wife, and he die childless, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed to his brother.

(29)There were therefore seven brothers; and the first took a wife, and died childless; (30)and the second and the third took her; (31)and in like manner also the seven left no children, and died. (32)At last the woman also died. (33)In the resurrection, therefore, of which of them is she wife? For the seven had her for a wife.

(34)And Jesus answering said to them: The sons of this world marry, and are given in marriage. (35)But they who are accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage; (36)for neither can they die any more; for they are equal to the angels, and are sons of G.o.d, being sons of the resurrection.

(37)Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, at The Bush, when he calls the Lord the G.o.d of Abraham, and the G.o.d of Isaac, and the G.o.d of Jacob. (38)For he is not a G.o.d of the dead, but of the living; for to him all live.

(39)And some of the scribes answering said: Teacher, thou saidst well.

(40)For they no longer dared to ask him any question.

(41)And he said to them: How say they that the Christ is son of David?

(42)And David himself says in the book of Psalms:

The LORD said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand, (43)Till I make thine enemies thy footstool.

(44)David therefore calls him Lord, and how is he his son?

(45)And in the hearing of all the mult.i.tude, he said to his disciples: (46)Beware of the scribes, who desire to go about in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the first seats in the synagogues, and the first places at feasts; (47)who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These shall receive greater condemnation.

XXI.

AND looking up, he saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. (2)And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. (3)And he said: Of a truth I say to you, that this poor widow cast in more than all. (4)For all these, out of their abundance, cast into the offerings; but she, out of her want, cast in all the living that she had.