The Daily Audio Bible

Sadducees Question Jesus About The Resurrection of a Wife With Seven Husbands

¹⁸ And Sadducees come to Him, who say that there is not a resurrection. And they were questioning Him, saying ¹⁹ “Teacher, Moses wrote to us [in Deut 25:5] that if a brother of someone dies and leaves-behind a wife and does not leave a child, that his brother should take the wife, and raise-up-from her a seed^[a] for his brother. ²⁰ There were seven brothers. And the first took a wife, and dying, did not leave a seed. ²¹ And the second took her, and died, not having left-behind a seed. And the third similarly. ²² And the seven did not leave a seed. Last of all, the woman also died. ²³ In the resurrection when they rise up, of which of them will she be the wife? For the seven had her as wife”. ²⁴ Jesus said to them, “Are you not mistaken^[b] because of this— not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God? ²⁵ For when they rise-up from the dead, they neither marry nor are they given-in-marriage, but they are like angels^[c] in the heavens. ²⁶ And concerning the dead, that they are raised, did you not read in the book of Moses at the [place about the burning] bush, how God spoke to him, saying [in Ex 3:15] ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? ²⁷ He is not God of dead ones, but of living ones. You are greatly mistaken”.

A Scribe Asks, Which Is The Foremost Commandment?

²⁸ And having come to Him, one of the scribes— having heard them debating, having seen that He answered them well— asked Him, “Which is the foremost^[d] commandment of all?” ²⁹ Jesus answered that “Foremost is: ‘Hear, Israel. The Lord our God is one Lord. ³⁰ And you shall love the Lord your God from your whole heart, and from your whole soul, and from your whole mind, and from your whole strength’ [Deut 6:4-5]. ³¹ Second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ [Lev 19:18]. There is not another commandment greater than these”. ³² And the scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher! In accordance with [God’s] truth, You said^[e] that He is one. And there is not another except Him. ³³ And the statement ‘to love Him from the whole heart, and from the whole understanding, and from the whole strength’, and the statement ‘to love the neighbor as himself’, are more [important] than all the whole-burnt-offerings and sacrifices”. ³⁴ And Jesus, having looked-at him because he responded thoughtfully, said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God”.

Jesus Asks How The Messiah Can Be The Son of David Since David Calls Him His Lord

And no one was daring to question Him any more. ³⁵ And having responded, Jesus was saying while teaching in the temple, “How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? ³⁶ David himself said by the Holy Spirit [in Ps 110:1], ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Be sitting on My right side until I put Your enemies under Your feet”’. ³⁷ David himself calls Him ‘Lord’. And in what^[f] way is He his son?”

Jesus Warns The Crowds To Beware of The Scribes

And the large crowd was listening-to Him with-pleasure.