Mark 12:28-31
Context12:28 Now 1 one of the experts in the law 2 came and heard them debating. When he saw that Jesus 3 answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 12:29 Jesus answered, “The most important is: ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 12:30 Love 4 the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 5 12:31 The second is: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 6 There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Deuteronomy 6:4-5
Context6:4 Listen, Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 7 6:5 You must love 8 the Lord your God with your whole mind, 9 your whole being, 10 and all your strength. 11
Leviticus 19:18
Context19:18 You must not take vengeance or bear a grudge 12 against the children of your people, but you must love your neighbor as yourself. 13 I am the Lord.
1 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.
2 tn Or “One of the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.
3 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Grk “You will love.” The future indicative is used here with imperatival force (see ExSyn 452 and 569).
5 sn A quotation from Deut 6:4-5 and Josh 22:5 (LXX). The fourfold reference to different parts of the person says, in effect, that one should love God with all one’s being.
6 sn A quotation from Lev 19:18.
7 tn Heb “the
sn Verses 4-5 constitute the so-called Shema (after the first word שְׁמַע, shÿma’, “hear”), widely regarded as the very heart of Jewish confession and faith. When Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment of all, he quoted this text (Matt 22:37-38).
8 tn The verb אָהַב (’ahav, “to love”) in this setting communicates not so much an emotional idea as one of covenant commitment. To love the
9 tn Heb “heart.” In OT physiology the heart (לֵב, לֵבָב; levav, lev) was considered the seat of the mind or intellect, so that one could think with one’s heart. See A. Luc, NIDOTTE 2:749-54.
10 tn Heb “soul”; “being.” Contrary to Hellenistic ideas of a soul that is discrete and separate from the body and spirit, OT anthropology equated the “soul” (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh) with the person himself. It is therefore best in most cases to translate נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) as “being” or the like. See H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 10-25; D. Fredericks, NIDOTTE 3:133-34.
11 sn For NT variations on the Shema see Matt 22:37-39; Mark 12:29-30; Luke 10:27.
12 tn Heb “and you shall not retain [anger?].” This line seems to refer to the retaining or maintaining of some vengeful feelings toward someone. Compare the combination of the same terms for taking vengeance and maintaining wrath against enemies in Nahum 1:2 (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 305).
13 sn Some scholars make a distinction between the verb אָהַב (’ahav, “to love”) with the direct object and the more unusual construction with the preposition לְ (lamed) as it is here and in Lev 19:34 and 2 Chr 19:2 only. If there is a distinction, the construction here probably calls for direct and helpful action toward one’s neighbor (see the discussion in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 305, and esp. 317-18). Such love stands in contrast to taking vengeance or bearing a grudge against someone and, in NT terms, amounts to fulfilling the so-called “golden rule” (Matt 7:12).