Matthew 22:35-39

22:35 And one of them, an expert in religious law, ¹  asked him a question to test ²  him: 22:36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” ³  22:37 Jesus ⁴  said to him, “‘Love ⁵  the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ⁶  22:38 This is the first and greatest ⁷  commandment. 22:39 The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁸ 

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¹ tn Traditionally, “a lawyer.” This was an expert in the interpretation of the Mosaic law.

² tn Grk “testing.” The participle, however, is telic in force.

³ tn Or possibly “What sort of commandment in the law is great?”

⁴ tn Grk “And he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁵ tn Grk “You will love.” The future indicative is used here with imperatival force (see ExSyn 452 and 569).

⁶ sn A quotation from Deut 6:5. The threefold reference to different parts of the person says, in effect, that one should love God with all one’s being.

⁷ tn Grk “the great and first.”

⁸ sn A quotation from Lev 19:18.