EFTERHIN SOME PHARISEES an Herodians wis sent tae girn him wi a queystin. Thir men cam up an said til him, “Maister, we ken at ye ar an aivendoun man at heedsna ither fowk’s ruise or wyte; for ye carena by wha a man is, but trulie an honestlie teach the wey o God. Tell us nou, is it leisome tae pey the poll-tax tae Caesar, or is it no? What say ye? Ar we tae pey it, or no?”
Jesus saw the doubleness o them an said, “What for seek ye tae fankle me? Fesh a merk, an gíe me a luik o it.” Sae they brocht him a merk, an he said til them, “Wha’s heid an name is thir?”
“Caesar’s,” said they.
“A-weill, than,” qo he, “pey Caesar what belangs Caesar, an pey God what belangs God.” They war fair stoundit at him.
AE DAY SOME SADDUCEES (fowk at threaps there is nae risin again efter deith) cam an speired him a queystin.
“Maister,” said they, “Moses laid it doun in our Law at, gin a man díes laein a wídow but nae childer, his brither suid mairrie his wídow an beget a faimlie til him.
“A-weill, the’ war aince seiven brithers. The auldest o them mairriet a wife an díed laein nae childer; syne the saicond brither mairriet his wídow, an he díed bairnless an aa; it wis the same gate wi the third; an sae it fuir on or the haill seiven o them hed díed, an nae childer left ahent them; an syne, lest o aa, the wuman díed hersel. At the resurrection, than, whan they ar risen again, wha’s wife will she be, seein hou the haill seiven wis mairriet on her?”
Jesus answert them, “Isna this hou ye gae wrang—at ye kenna naither the Bible nor the pouer o God? Whan the deid is risen again, there is nae mair mairriein for man or wuman, they ar like the angels in heiven. As for the risin-up o the deid, hae ye ne’er read i the Buik o Moses, i the bit anent the 61bríar-buss, hou God said til him, ‘I am the God o Abraham an the God o Isaac an the God o Jaucob’? God is nae God o deid men, but a God o men in life. Atweill ye ar freelie wrang!”
A Doctor o the Law at hed hairkent this threap an seen hou weill he answert his queystiners nou cam forrit an speired at him, “Whilk is the first commaund o aa?”
Jesus said til him, “The first commaund is this: ‘Hairken, Israel: the Lord thy God is the onlie Lord; an thou sal luve the Lord thy God wi thy haill hairt an thy haill saul an aa thy wit an aa thy pith.’ The saicond is this: ‘Thou sal luve thy neipour as thysel.’ There is nae ither commaund gryter nor thir twa.”
The Doctor o the Law answert, “Weill an trulie said, Maister: there is but ae God, an nae ither forbye him, an tae luve him wi aa your hairt an aa your understaundin an aa your pith is a hantle better nor aa the brunt offerins an saicrifíces i the warld.”
Seein hou wysslike he answert, Jesus said til him, “Ye arna faur frae the Kíngdom o God.” Efter that nae man daured speir him onie mair queystins.
ANITHER TIME, AS he wis teachin i the Temple, Jesus said, “Hou can the Doctors o the Law up-haud at the Christ is the Son o Dauvit? Dauvit himsel, speakin i the Halie Spírit, said:
The Lord said til my lord:
‘Sit thou at my richt haund,
till I pit thy faes aneth thy feet.’
Dauvit himsel caas him his lord: hou can he be his son avà?”
The maist feck lissent him gledlie. Amang ither things at he said in his teachin o them the’ war this: “Tak tent o the Doctors o the Law,” qo he, “at is fain o brankin on the plainstanes in side gouns, an canna dae wantin becks an bous i the mercat, an is ey ill for the best saits i the sýnagogue an the foremaist places at denners an banqets. Them at hings on a lang face an pits up lang screids o prayer an aa the time is rookin wídows out o their haudins, stick an stow, it will be6 the waur for them at the Juidgement, at will it!”
AE DAY HE wis sittin foregainst the Temple Treisurie, tentin the fowk as they cuist their coins intil the offerin-kists. Efter monie weill-tae-pass fowk hed cuissen in a gey feck o siller píeces, a puir wídow cam forrit an drappit in twa fardens.62
Seein her, Jesus cried his disciples til him an said til them, “Atweill, I tell ye, yon puir wídow-wuman hes pitten mair intil the kist nor aa the lave. They aa gíed out o their owrecome, but she out o her need hes gíen aa she wis aucht—ay, the haill o her fendin!”
13 AS HE WIS ginging out the Temple, ane o the disciples said til him, “Luik, Maister! Whattan stanes! Whattan biggins!”
Jesus answert, “Ye see thir muckle biggins? No ae stane o them will be left abuin anither; the hailwar s’ be dung doun an disannulled.”
Syne, as he wis sittin his lane on the Hill o Olives, forenent the Temple, Peter cam up wi Jeames an John an Andro an speired at him: “Tell us,” qo he, “whan is thir things tae happen? What sign will be gíen whan they ar aa a-weers o comin tae pass?”
Jesus tuik speech in haund an said til them: “Tak tent at nae man mislairs ye. Monie feck will kythe caain themsels bi my name an threapin, ‘I am the Christ’, an monie-ane will they gar gae will. Whan ye hear tell o wars an souchs o war, binna nane pitten about. Thir things maun een happen, but the end will be ey tae come. First will fowk mak war on fowk, an kinrick on kinrick. There will be yirdquauks in orra pairts, there will be faimins, but thir is nae mair an the oncome o the birth-thraws.
“But ye maun luik til yoursels. Ye will be haundit owre tae councils an loundert wi wands in sýnagogues: mairfortaiken, ye will hae tae compear afore governors an kíngs for my sake, tae gíe them your testimonie; for afore the end the Gospel maun first be preached in aa launds. Whan they harl ye afore courts an juidges, fashna yoursels aforehaund for what ye ar tae say: say ye een what is gíen ye tae say whan ye ar staundin there, for it winna be ye at speaks, but the Halie Spírit.
“Brither will betray brither tae deith, an faithers their bairns, an childer will rise up again their paurents an cause pit them tae deith. Ye will be hatit bi aa men, because ye beir my name: but him at staunds steive tae the end will be saufed. But, whaniver ye see the Deidlie Scunner staundin whaur staund it suidna”—ye at reads this, tak tent!—“syne them at bides in Judaea maun tak the hills wi speed; him at is on his houss-heid maunna come doun an gae ben tae lift ocht frae the houss, an him at is outbye i the fíeld maunna ging back tae claucht up his coat. 63Pítie help the wuman wi babe i the wyme an the wuman wi bairn at the breist i thae days! Pray tae God at this comesna in winter; for thae days will be days o dule an wae at there hesna been the like o frae God first made the warld till nou, nor winna be again i the time tae come. Troth, gin God hedna shortent thae days, no a bodie-kind wad win throu wi his life. But for the sake o the eleck at he hes waled for his ain he hes shortent them.
“Gin onie-ane says tae ye at that time, ‘Luik, here’s the Christ’, or, ‘See, there he’s thonder’, lippen-him-na. For fauss Christs an fauss prophets will kythe, an will wurk míracles an ferlies tae gar the eleck gae will, coud sic a thing be. But tak ye tent: I hae tauld ye aathing aforehaund. I thae days, whan the dule an wae is by wi,
The sun will be mirkit,
an the muin winna gíe her licht;
the stairns will be faain frae the carrie,
an the pouers i the lift will be dinnelt.
Than will they see the Son o Man comin i the clouds wi unco micht an glore, an belyve he will send furth his angels an gether his eleck frae the fowr airts, frae the laichmaist bound o the yird tae the buinmaist bound o heiven.
“Lat the feg-tree lairn ye a lesson. Whan its ryss is sappie an saft, an its leafs onfaulds,7 ye ken at the simmer is naur. Siclike, whan ye see thir things happnin, ye maun ken at the end is naur—ay, at your verra doors! Atweill, I tell ye, this generâtion winna pass awà