19 Then because the religious teachers and the chief priests knew that Yeshua had used that parable to speak about them, they tried at the time to capture him, but couldn’t because they were afraid of the number of people around. 20 So after watching Yeshua closely, they sent agents who pretended to be genuine inquirers so that they could catch him out on some careless statement and then they could hand him over to the rule and authority of the Roman governor. 21 They asked him, “Teacher, we know that you say what is right, and that you teach the truth about God’s way without being influenced by people. 22 So tell us, should we pay tax to the Roman emperor or not?”

23 But having observed their craftiness, he said to them, 24 “Show me a coin. Whose image and inscription is on it?”

“The emperor’s,” they replied. 25 “So then,” Yeshua continued, “Give the emperor what belongs to him, and what belongs to God, give to God.”

26 So they weren’t able to catch him out by making a treasonable statement in front of the people—in fact they were stunned by his answer and didn’t ask anything else.

13 Then the religious leaders sent some members of the Pharisee party and some of the political supporters of King Herod to try to catch Yeshua out. 14 So they flattered him, “Teacher, we know that you are honest even if it upsets others, and that you teach the truth about God without caring about people’s opinions. Is it legal for us Jews to pay the poll tax to the Roman emperor or not? How should we handle this?”

15 But knowing their hypocrisy, Yeshua responded to them, “Why are you trying to test me? Bring me a coin so we can determine the proper answer.”

16 When they brought him a coin, he asked, “Whose image and inscription are on this coin?”

And they said, “The emperor’s.”

17 “Well then,” said Yeshua, “give to the emperor whatever is due him, but give God what is owed to God.”

And they had to admit that that was an outstanding answer.

15 Then the members of the Pharisees went away and had a discussion to try to figure out how to trap him into saying something wrong. 16 Afterwards, they sent some of their apprentices along with some supporters of Herod and asked, “Teacher, we know that you are honest and that you teach God’s ways in all honesty irrespective of what people might say, because you don’t care about people’s opinions. 17 So then, tell us what you think: should we pay the poll tax to Caesar or not?”

18 But Yeshua knew how wicked they were and asked, “Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin used to pay the poll tax.” So they brought a coin to him. 20 Then he asked, “Whose image is this on the coin, and the inscription?”

21 “Caesar’s,” they answered.

“Then give Caesar’s things to Caesar and God’s things to God,” Yeshua responded.

22 When they heard that, they were amazed, and left him and went away.