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. 12:13 For ver. 13-27, see Matt. 22:15-32; Luke 20:20-38
• 2. 12:13 ch. 3:6; [ch. 8:15]
• 3. 12:13 ch. 3:6; [ch. 8:15]
• 4. 12:13 Luke 11:54
• 5. 12:14 [John 3:2]
• 6. 12:14 See Acts 10:34
• 7. 12:14 Acts 18:25, 26; [Acts 13:10]
• 8. 12:14 Matt. 17:25
• 9. 12:14 Luke 2:1; 3:1
• 10. 12:15 Matt. 23:28; Luke 12:1
• 11. 12:15 See John 8:6
• 12. 12:15 See Matt. 18:28
• 13. 12:17 Rom. 13:7

Footnotes

• [a] 12:14 Greek 'you do not look at people’s faces'
• [b] 12:15 A 'denarius' was a day’s wage for a laborer