On the same day some Sadducees, who claim that there is no resurrection, came up to Him, and asked this question:

now if there be another life after this, whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all married her.

for in the other life after this, there will be no such thing as marriage; but they will be as the angels of God in heaven.

And [when] the crowds heard [this], they were amazed at his teaching.

In the mean time one of them, a Doctor of the law, to try him, started this question, master,

And Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind: this is the first and great command.

This is the first and greatest rule.

And a second like it is this, Have love for your neighbour as for yourself.

Now while the Pharisees were assembled together, Jesus asked them this question,

They love to recline at the head place at dinner tables [Note: This referred to the practice of lying down on their left side on a couch next to the dinner table, and leaning on their left elbow, while eating with their right hand], and to occupy the principal seats in the synagogues.

They love the [special] greetings they receive at the open shopping markets and to be addressed as 'Rabbi' [Note: This word signified 'great' or 'master'].

But alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you eat up the houses of widows, and for a pretext make long prayers. For this reason, you shall receive the greater condemnation.

But woe to you, scholars and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because ye devour widows' houses, and praying long in pretence. Because of this ye will receive greater condemnation.

"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to make a single convert, and when this happens you make him twice as fit for hell as you are.

In this way also, ye indeed outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside ye are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

By saying this you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets.

For this reason, I send you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: some of them you will put to death and put on the cross, and to some of them you will give blows in your Synagogues, driving them from town to town;

[This will be done] so that on you may fall the guilt for shedding on the ground the blood of all those innocent people, from the blood of righteous Abel to that of Barachiah's son Zachariah, whom you murdered between the Sanctuary and the Altar [i.e., in the Temple area].

Truly I say to you, All these things will come on this generation

For I say to you, You will not see me from this time till you say, A blessing on him who comes in the name of the Lord.

Jesus said to them, observe this vast structure, I tell you for certain, there shall not be any part of it left standing, but it shall be all thrown into ruins.

While He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came up to Him by themselves, and said, "Tell us when this is to take place, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age."

Jesus answered, "Take care that no one misleads you about this.

And you are going to hear about wars and rumors of wars. See to it that you are not alarmed, for this must happen, but the end is not yet.

But all this is but the beginning of the agonies.

But the one who endures to the end--this person will be saved.

And this good news of the kingdom will be given through all the world for a witness to all nations; and then the end will come.

When, then, you see in the holy place the unclean thing which makes destruction, of which word was given by Daniel the prophet (let this be clear to the reader),

[Also], the person who is on a housetop [Note: This was a flat area where people retired for rest, prayer, etc., with its stairway on the outside], is not to take any of the belongings from his house as he comes down [to flee].

For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world to this time, nor shall be.

You see, I have told you [all this] ahead of time.

Wherever there is a dead body, [you can expect to see] vultures gathered there. [Note: This may mean that such a significant event as the coming of Christ would surely not go unnoticed].

"But immediately after the terrible trouble of those days, [i.e., the next major event on God's calendar], the sun will become dark, and [therefore] the moon will not [be able to] shed its [reflected] light. The stars will fall from the sky and the forces of the heavens will be shaken [Note: From the description of these same events in Luke 21:25-26, it is possible that this is figurative language for great calamities happening on the earth].

And He will send out His angels [i.e., as messengers] with the sound of a great trumpet [See I Thess. 4:16] to gather His elect [i.e., God's people] from all directions, [even] from throughout the whole world. [Note: See Mark 13:27, which suggests this thought by its use of 'earth' and 'sky']

this may be illustrated by a comparison taken from a fig-tree: when the branches become tender, and push out their leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:

so, whenever you see all this happen, you may be sure He is at hand, at the very door.

Truly I say to you, This generation will not come to an end till all these things are complete.

They didn’t know until the flood came and swept them all away. So this is the way the coming of the Son of Man will be:

Two women will be grinding grain at a millstone [Note: This was a hand-operated device where two persons sat across from each other and rotated a circular stone over kernels of grain]; one will be taken, while the other one will be left.

But be certain of this, that if the master of the house had had knowledge of the time when the thief was coming, he would have been watching, and would not have let his house be broken into.

For this [reason] you also must be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not think [he will come].

Happy will that servant be whom his master, when he comes home, shall find doing this.

He gave one servant five talents [Note: This 'talent' was a large sum of money in the form of a certain weight of silver. It was the equivalent of sixty years of a farm laborer's wages, or about $750,000 in income]. He gave two talents to another servant and one talent to another. He gave to each one an amount in keeping with his ability [to invest it wisely], and then left on his trip.

And throw this good-for-nothing slave into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

and the king will reply, I declare unto you, your having done this for one of the least of these my brethren, is the same thing as doing it for me.

to this he will reply, I declare unto you, your not doing this for one of the least of these, is the same thing as not doing it for me.

When Jesus had ended this discourse, He said to His disciples,

"You know that the Passover Festival will be celebrated in two more days [Note: This was the annual Jewish festival commemorating Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage under Moses' leadership], and the Son of man will be turned over to be crucified."

About this time the chief priests, and the elders of the people, assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas,

but they said, this must not be done on the feastday, for fear the people rise.

Now when Jesus was at Bethany [Note: This was a small village less than two miles east of Jerusalem], in the house of Simon, the man [who probably had been healed] of an infectious skin disease,

And [when] the disciples saw [it] they were indignant, saying, "{Why} this waste?

For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor!"

But Jesus, knowing [this], said to them, "Why do you cause trouble for the woman? For she has done a good deed for me.

(seeing ye have the poor always with you, but me ye have not always:) for in pouring this ointment on my body,

For [when] this woman poured this ointment on my body, she did [it] in order to prepare me for burial.

Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her."

About this time went one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot,

and said, "What would you give me if I turned Jesus over to you?" And they weighed out thirty silver coins [Note: This amount was equivalent to about five months of a farm laborer's wages, or approximately $7,000 in 1994], and promised [See Mark 14:11] to give him that much money.

and as they were eating, he said, 'tis indeed true that one of this company shall betray me.

They were greatly distressed at this, and each of them said to him, "Lord, surely it is not me."

And he answered [and] said, "The one who dips his hand in the bowl with me--this one will betray me.

Now [while] they were eating Jesus took bread and, [after] giving thanks, he broke [it], and giving [it] to the disciples, he said, "Take, eat, this is my body."

And taking the cup, and giving thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of this:

for this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

But I tell you, from now [on] I will never drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in the kingdom of my Father."

And after they had sung a hymn, they went up to the Mount of Olives. [Note: This was a small hill just east of Jerusalem]

Then Jesus said to them, "You will all fall away because of me during this night, for it is written, 'I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'

Jesus said to him, "Truly I say to you that during this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times!"

After this, Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemani, and said to the disciples, stay here, while I go there and pray.

And going forward a little he fell down on his face, praying and saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you [will]."

And [when] He came [back] to where His disciples were and found them asleep, He said to Peter, "What [is this], could you not remain alert with me [in prayer] for one hour?

Again for the second time he went away [and] prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will must be done."

and at his return, he said to his disciples, is this a time to sleep and take your rest? the hour draws nigh, and the son of man is betrayed into the hands of the gentiles.

now he that was to betray him, gave them this signal, the person I shall kiss, is the very man, be sure to secure him.

What! do you think I cannot appeal to my Father to furnish me at this moment with over twelve legions of angels?

How then would the scriptures be fulfilled that it must happen in this way?"

Then said Jesus to the multitudes, Ye are come out as against a thief with swords and clubs to take me, whereas I sat with you day after day teaching in the temple, and ye did not seize me: but all this is done,

But all this has happened in order that the scriptures of the prophets would be fulfilled." Then the disciples all abandoned him [and] fled.

Peter, however, followed him at a distance as far as the high priest's courtyard. He went inside and sat down with the servants to see how this would end.

[and] said, "This man said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild [it] within three days.'"

The high priest stood up, and said to him, "Have you no answer? What is this that these testify against you?"

But Jesus remained silent. On this the High Priest said to him: "I adjure you, by the Living God, to tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God."

Jesus said to him, "You have said it. Nevertheless, I tell you, after this you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of the sky."

Then the High Priest tore his robes. "This is blasphemy!" he exclaimed. "Why do we want any more witnesses? You have just heard his blasphemy!

saying, "Prophesy to us, you 'Christ.' Tell us who hit you?" [Note: By this time Jesus had been blindfolded. See Mark 14:65].

And [when he] went out to the gateway, another [female slave] saw him and said to those [who were] there, "This man was with Jesus the Nazarene."

And he denied [it] again, [this time] with an oath, saying, "I do not [even] know the man."

At this he broke out cursing and swearing, "I do not know the man." At that moment a cock crowed.

The chief priests took the silver and said, "It is not lawful to put this into the temple treasury, since it is blood money."

So, they conferred together [and decided] to buy "The Potter's Field" with the money [Note: This was probably an abandoned field where clay had been obtained for making pottery], for use in burying people who were not from the local area.

(For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood until today.)

and at this time there was a notorious prisoner named Barabbas.

So when they met for this purpose, Pilate asked them, "Which one do you want me to set free, Barabbas, or Jesus, the so-called Christ?"

He did this because he knew that they had handed him over out of jealousy.

When he was set down to give judgment, his wife sent to him, saying, "Have thou nothing to do with that just man, I have suffered many things this day in a dream about him."

So Pilate, [when he] saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but instead an uproar was developing, took water [and] washed his hands before the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this man. You see to [it]!"

at this all the people cry'd out, "his blood be on us, and on our children."

after this the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered all the foot-guards about him.

They stripped off His clothing and placed a scarlet robe on Him [Note: Mark 15:17 calls this a "purple" robe because in that day, any color with a mixture of "red" in it was often called "purple," so the use of "scarlet" was appropriate].