Mark 12:23
What does Mark 12:23 mean?
A plain-English look at Mark 12:23 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Mark 12:23 means
Having completed their complex hypothetical case, the Sadducees finally pose their direct question to Jesus: \"In the resurrection whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.\" Their question, framed within their materialistic understanding of life and marriage, expects Jesus to be trapped by the perceived impossibility of such a situation. They assume that resurrected life will be a mere continuation of earthly existence, with human institutions like marriage persisting in the same physical form, thus exposing what they believe is a fundamental flaw in the doctrine of resurrection.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000In the resurrection whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.
KJV
King James Version · 1611In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901In the resurrection whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949In the future life, when they come back from the dead, whose wife will she be? for the seven had her for a wife.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862in the rising again, then, whenever they may rise, of which of them shall she be wife--for the seven had her as wife?'
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise again, whose wife shall she be of them? For the seven had her to wife.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890In the resurrection, when they shall rise again, of which of them shall she be wife, for the seven had her as wife?
Context
This verse delivers the Sadducees’ ultimate question, which is the culmination of their elaborate hypothetical scenario concerning the seven brothers and the woman. It directly follows the description of everyone’s death. This challenging question is designed to expose a perceived logical contradiction in the doctrine of resurrection, setting the stage for Jesus’s profound correction regarding the nature of life beyond the grave and their theological misunderstanding.
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