Mark 12:13-17

Paying Taxes to Caesar

13 ¹And they sent to him some of ²the Pharisees and some of ³the Herodians, to ⁴trap him in his talk.

14 And they came and said to him, "Teacher, ⁵we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion. For ⁶you are not swayed by appearances,^[a] but truly teach ⁷the way of God. Is it lawful to pay ⁸taxes to ⁹Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?"

15 But, knowing ¹⁰their hypocrisy, he said to them, "Why ¹¹put me to the test? Bring me ¹²a denarius^[b] and let me look at it."

16 And they brought one. And he said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" They said to him, "Caesar's."

17 Jesus said to them, ¹³"Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." And they marveled at him.

Cross References

• 1. For ver. 13-27, see Matthew 22:15-32; Luke 20:20-38
• 2. Mark 3:6; [Mark 8:15]
• 3. Mark 3:6; [Mark 8:15]
• 4. Luke 11:54
• 5. [John 3:2]
• 6. See Acts 10:34
• 7. Acts 18:25, 26; [Acts 13:10]
• 8. Matthew 17:25
• 9. Luke 2:1; Luke 3:1
• 10. Matthew 23:28; Luke 12:1
• 11. See John 8:6
• 12. See Matthew 18:28
• 13. Romans 13:7

Footnotes

• [a]. Greek you do not look at people's faces
• [b]. A denarius was a day's wage for a laborer