The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 And he gave them teaching in the form of stories. A man had a vine-garden planted, and put a wall about it, and made a place for crushing out the wine, and put up a tower, and let it out to field-workers, and went into another country.
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Then Jesus spoke to them in parables: "Once there was a man who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a hole for the wine press, and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to tenants and left home on a trip.
2 And when the time came, he sent a servant to get from the workmen some of the fruit of the garden.
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When the time came to gather the grapes, he sent a slave to the tenants to receive from them his share of the harvest.
3 And they took him, and gave him blows, and sent him away with nothing.
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The tenants grabbed the slave, beat him, and sent him back without a thing.
4 And again he sent to them another servant; and they gave him wounds on the head, and were very cruel to him.
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Then the owner sent another slave; the tenants beat him over the head and treated him shamefully.
5 And he sent another; and they put him to death: and a number of others, whipping some, and putting some to death.
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The owner sent another slave, and they killed him; and they treated many others the same way, beating some and killing others.
6 He still had one, a dearly loved son: he sent him last to them, saying, They will have respect for my son.
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The only one left to send was the man's own dear son. Last of all, then, he sent his son to the tenants. "I am sure they will respect my son,' he said.
7 But those workmen said among themselves, This is he who will one day be the owner of the property; come, let us put him to death, and the heritage will be ours.
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But those tenants said to one another, "This is the owner's son. Come on, let's kill him, and his property will be ours!'
8 And they took him and put him to death, pushing his body out of the garden.
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So they grabbed the son and killed him and threw his body out of the vineyard.
9 What then will the master of the garden do? He will come and put the workmen to death, and will give the garden into the hands of others.
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"What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do?" asked Jesus. "He will come and kill those tenants and turn the vineyard over to others.
10 Have you not seen this which is in the Writings: The stone which the builders put on one side, the same was made the chief stone of the building:
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Surely you have read this scripture? "The stone which the builders rejected as worthless turned out to be the most important of all.
11 This was the Lord's doing, and it is a wonder in our eyes?
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This was done by the Lord; what a wonderful sight it is!' "
12 And they made attempts to take him; but they were in fear of the people, because they saw that the story was against them; and they went away from him.
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The Jewish leaders tried to arrest Jesus, because they knew that he had told this parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.
13 Then they sent to him certain of the Pharisees and the Herodians, so that they might make use of his words to take him by a trick.
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Some Pharisees and some members of Herod's party were sent to Jesus to trap him with questions.
14 And when they had come, they said to him, Master, we are certain that you are true, and have no fear of anyone: you have no respect for a man's position, but you are teaching the true way of God: Is it right to give taxes to Caesar or not?
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They came to him and said, "Teacher, we know that you tell the truth, without worrying about what people think. You pay no attention to anyone's status, but teach the truth about God's will for people. Tell us, is it against our Law to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor? Should we pay them or not?"
15 Are we to give or not to give? But he, conscious of their false hearts, said to them, Why do you put me to the test? give me a penny, so that I may see it.
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But Jesus saw through their trick and answered, "Why are you trying to trap me? Bring a silver coin, and let me see it."
16 And they gave him one. And he said to them, Whose is this image and name on it? And they said to him, Caesar's.
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They brought him one, and he asked, "Whose face and name are these?" "The Emperor's," they answered.
17 And Jesus said to them, Give to Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and to God the things which are God's. And they were full of wonder at him.
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So Jesus said, "Well, then, pay to the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor, and pay to God what belongs to God." And they were amazed at Jesus.
18 And there came to him Sadducees, who say there is no coming back from the dead; and they put a question to him, saying,
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Then some Sadducees, who say that people will not rise from death, came to Jesus and said,
19 Master, in the law Moses says, If a man's brother comes to his end, and has a wife still living and no child, it is right for his brother to take his wife, and get a family for his brother.
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"Teacher, Moses wrote this law for us: "If a man dies and leaves a wife but no children, that man's brother must marry the widow so that they can have children who will be considered the dead man's children.'
20 There were seven brothers: and the first took a wife, and at his death there were no offspring;
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Once there were seven brothers; the oldest got married and died without having children.
21 And the second took her, and at his death there were no offspring; and the third the same:
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Then the second one married the woman, and he also died without having children. The same thing happened to the third brother,
22 And all the seven had no seed. Last of all the woman herself came to her death.
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and then to the rest: all seven brothers married the woman and died without having children. Last of all, the woman died.
23 In the future life, when they come back from the dead, whose wife will she be? for the seven had her for a wife.
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Now, when all the dead rise to life on the day of resurrection, whose wife will she be? All seven of them had married her."
24 Jesus said to them, Is not this the reason for your error, that you have no knowledge of the holy Writings or of the power of God?
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Jesus answered them, "How wrong you are! And do you know why? It is because you don't know the Scriptures or God's power.
25 When they come back from the dead, they do not get married, but are like the angels in heaven.
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For when the dead rise to life, they will be like the angels in heaven and will not marry.
26 But as to the dead coming back to life; have you not seen in the book of Moses, about the burning thorn-tree, how God said to him, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?
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Now, as for the dead being raised: haven't you ever read in the Book of Moses the passage about the burning bush? There it is written that God said to Moses, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'
27 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living: you are greatly in error.
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He is the God of the living, not of the dead. You are completely wrong!"
28 And one of the scribes came, and hearing their argument together, and seeing that he had given them a good answer, put the question to him, Which law is the first of all?
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A teacher of the Law was there who heard the discussion. He saw that Jesus had given the Sadducees a good answer, so he came to him with a question: "Which commandment is the most important of all?"
29 Jesus said in answer, The first is, Give ear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord;
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Jesus replied, "The most important one is this: "Listen, Israel! The Lord our God is the only Lord.
30 And you are to have love for the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.
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Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'
31 The second is this, Have love for your neighbour as for yourself. There is no other law greater than these.
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The second most important commandment is this: "Love your neighbor as you love yourself.' There is no other commandment more important than these two."
32 And the scribe said to him, Truly, Master, you have well said that he is one, and there is no other but he:
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The teacher of the Law said to Jesus, "Well done, Teacher! It is true, as you say, that only the Lord is God and that there is no other god but he.
33 And to have love for him with all the heart, and with all the mind, and with all the strength, and to have the same love for his neighbour as for himself, is much more than all forms of offerings.
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And you must love God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength; and you must love your neighbor as you love yourself. It is more important to obey these two commandments than to offer on the altar animals and other sacrifices to God."
34 And when Jesus saw that he gave a wise answer, he said to him, You are not far from the kingdom of God. And every man after that was in fear of questioning him any more.
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Jesus noticed how wise his answer was, and so he told him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God." After this nobody dared to ask Jesus any more questions.
35 And Jesus, when he was teaching in the Temple, said, How do the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David?
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As Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he asked the question, "How can the teachers of the Law say that the Messiah will be the descendant of David?
36 David himself said in the Holy Spirit, The Lord said to my Lord, Be seated at my right hand, till I put those who are against you under your feet.
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The Holy Spirit inspired David to say: "The Lord said to my Lord: Sit here at my right side until I put your enemies under your feet.'
37 David himself gives him the name of Lord; and how then is he his son? And the common people gave ear to him gladly.
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David himself called him "Lord'; so how can the Messiah be David's descendant?" A large crowd was listening to Jesus gladly.
38 And in his teaching he said, Be on your watch against the scribes, whose pleasure it is to go about in long robes and be respected in the market-places,
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As he taught them, he said, "Watch out for the teachers of the Law, who like to walk around in their long robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplace,
39 And to have the chief seats in the Synagogues and the first places at feasts;
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who choose the reserved seats in the synagogues and the best places at feasts.
40 Who take away the property of widows, and before the eyes of men make long prayers; these will be judged more hardly.
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They take advantage of widows and rob them of their homes, and then make a show of saying long prayers. Their punishment will be all the worse!"
41 And he took a seat by the place where the money was kept, and saw how the people put money into the boxes: and a number who had wealth put in much.
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As Jesus sat near the Temple treasury, he watched the people as they dropped in their money. Many rich men dropped in a lot of money;
42 And there came a poor widow, and she put in two little bits of money, which make a farthing.
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then a poor widow came along and dropped in two little copper coins, worth about a penny.
43 And he made his disciples come to him, and said to them, Truly I say to you, This poor widow has put in more than all those who are putting money into the box:
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He called his disciples together and said to them, "I tell you that this poor widow put more in the offering box than all the others.
44 Because they all put in something out of what they had no need for; but she out of her need put in all she had, even all her living.
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For the others put in what they had to spare of their riches; but she, poor as she is, put in all she had - she gave all she had to live on."
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.