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17
Jesus paid tax money for God’s ceremony house
24 Jesus and his followers went and stayed in the town called Capernium. There were some men that worked in God’s ceremony house. Every year, all the Jewish people had to pay tax money to those men. They used that money to look after God’s ceremony house. Those men went to Peter and asked him, “Is your teacher going to pay the tax money for God’s ceremony house?”*Exodus 30:13; 38:26
25 Peter said, “Yes.”
Then Peter went into the house where they were staying, to talk to Jesus about it. But Jesus talked first. He said, “Peter, think about the big bosses in this world. They take money from people, but what do you reckon? Do they take it from their own mob, or do they take it from other people?”
26 Peter said, “They take money from other people, not from their own mob.”
Then Jesus said, “All right, that means their own families don’t have to pay anything. And we are God’s family, so we don’t have to pay money for God’s house. 27 But we don’t want to make those tax men angry. So get a fishing line, and go down to the lake, and throw in the line to catch a fish. Get the first fish that you catch, open its mouth, and you will find a gold coin inside it. Take that coin, and give it to those tax men. It will be enough money for both my tax and your tax.”

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*17:24 Exodus 30:13; 38:26

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