Mark 12

It also contains Jesus' Greatest Commandment, his discussion of the messiah's relationship to King David, condemnation of the teachers of the law, and his praise of a poor widow's offering. In the context of Mark's chronology, these events, continuing from the challenge to Jesus' authority in Mark 11:27–33, take place during his third visit to the temple, traditionally identified with Holy Tuesday. The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 44 verses. Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: Jesus, after his argument with the chief priests of the Sanhedrin over his authority in Mark 11:27–33, speaks to "them" ("the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders") in parables (εν παραβολαις, en parabolais, plural). While Matthew's Gospel records several parables here, including the parable of the two sons and the parable of the wedding feast, Mark relates only one: The scripture mentioned is a quotation from Psalm 118:22–23, the processional psalm for the three pilgrim festivals which also provided the source for the crowd's acclamation as Jesus entered Jerusalem, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. The quote about the stone is from the Septuagint version of the Psalms, a version Jesus and Jews in Israel would probably not have used. Mark however, who clearly has the Septuagint as his Old Testament reference, may have simply used it for his audience, as they spoke Greek, or to clarify his sources, oral and/or written.