Mark 12:21

And the second tooke her, and died, neither left he any seed, and the third likewise. Mark 12:21 (KJV)

Let’s dive into a Bible study on Mark 12:21 in the King James Version (KJV). The verse you’ve mentioned is part of a passage where Jesus engages in a conversation about marriage and resurrection with the Sadducees, a religious group that denied the resurrection of the dead. Mark 12:18‑27 (KJV) provides the broader context of the conversation: “Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying, Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man’s brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed. And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise. And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also. In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.” Jesus answered, “Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.” He then quoted the burning bush passage, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living,” concluding that the Sadducees greatly err.

In Mark 12:21 (KJV), the Sadducees describe the sequence of brothers marrying the widow: “And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise.” This scenario is based on the Levirate Law found in Deuteronomy 25:5‑6, which required a brother to marry a childless widow to raise offspring for the deceased sibling. By presenting a woman who had been married to seven brothers, each dying childless, the Sadducees attempted to expose what they saw as a difficulty for the doctrine of resurrection.

Jesus’ response emphasizes that in the resurrection people will not marry or be given in marriage but will be like the angels. He also affirms the reality of resurrection by invoking God’s declaration to Moses that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—living patriarchs. By stating that God is “the God of the living,” Jesus shows that those called by those names continue to exist, thereby confirming life beyond the grave.

The passage therefore teaches that earthly institutions such as marriage do not apply in the resurrected state, and it underscores the certainty of life after death grounded in God’s self‑identification as the God of the living.