Matthew 22:35-40

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  22:40 All the law and the prophets depend 9  on these two commandments.”

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.

9 tn Grk “hang.” The verb κρεμάννυμι (kremannumi) is used here with a figurative meaning (cf. BDAG 566 s.v. 2.b).