While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, He asked, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David?
Parallel translations
- WEB Jesus responded, as he taught in the temple, “How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?
- KJV And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the son of David?
- NKJV Then Jesus answered and said, while He taught in the temple, “How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David?
- NASB And Jesus responded and began saying, as He taught in the temple area, “How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?
- NLT Later, as Jesus was teaching the people in the Temple, he asked, “Why do the teachers of religious law claim that the Messiah is the son of David?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Teaching in the temple, Jesus raises a question: how can the scribes call the Messiah merely David's son? It sets up a deeper truth about the Christ's identity.
Overview
The scribes rightly taught that the Messiah would descend from David (2 Samuel 7), but Jesus presses them to see more. Citing Psalm 110, he shows that David calls this descendant 'Lord,' implying the Messiah is greater than David and is divine. Jesus is indeed David's son in the flesh, yet also David's Lord — the eternal Son of God, a truth the cross and resurrection make plain.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Luke 20:41–44Then Jesus declared, “How can it be said that the Christ is the Son of David?
- Matt 22:41–45While the Pharisees were assembled, Jesus questioned them:
- Matt 26:55At that time Jesus said to the crowd, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would an outlaw? Every day I sat teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest Me.
- Matt 9:27As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”
- Mark 11:27After their return to Jerusalem, Jesus was walking in the temple courts, and the chief priests, scribes, and elders came up to Him.
- John 18:20“I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus answered. “I always taught in the synagogues and at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret.
- Luke 20:1One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and proclaiming the gospel, the chief priests and scribes, together with the elders, came up to Him.
- Luke 19:47Jesus was teaching at the temple every day, but the chief priests, scribes, and leaders of the people were intent on killing Him.
- Luke 21:37Every day Jesus taught at the temple, but every evening He went out to spend the night on the Mount of Olives.
- John 7:42Doesn’t the Scripture say that the Christ will come from the line of David and from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”
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Christ at the center
Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
How Mark 12:35 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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