Mark 12:29

12:29-31 Jesus’ reply combined two widely separated commands from the Torah. • The first, Deut 6:4-5, was probably the best known passage in the Old Testament, for it was repeated twice daily by observant Jews. It is called the Shema because it begins with the word Listen (Hebrew shema‘). The first command corresponds to the first part of the Ten Commandments (Exod 20:2-11), which deals with a person’s relationship to God. • The oneness of God is foundational to Jewish and Christian monotheism and is the basis for the command to love God with all one’s heart (thinking and affection), soul (desire and feeling), mind (understanding), and strength (energy and power). • The second command is from Lev 19:18. It corresponds to the second part of the Ten Commandments (Exod 20:12-17), which concerns a person’s relationship with other people. The second command is based on the natural inclination of people to look after themselves. Its importance to the early church can be seen in its frequent repetition (Matt 5:43-44; 19:19; 25:31-46; Rom 13:8-10; Gal 5:14; Jas 2:8; Didache 1.2; 2.7). The two commands are not independent, but are intimately associated as one commandment. Their integration precludes religious mysticism that addresses only a person’s relationship with God or humanism that addresses only human relationships.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mar 12:29. Πρώτη πασῶν ἐντολή) This is a reading midway between extremes, and answers to Mar 12:28. The editions read πρώτη πασῶν τῶν ἐντολῶν, and so the Syr[3] Vers., as also Greek MSS.: however, for πασῶν, Al. Byz. Gehl. Mosc. Wo. 1, 2, and many others, have πάντων, though some of them retain πασῶν at Mar 12:28. πάντων has originated by an alliteration to [an assimilation of letters to those of] πρώτη, and ἐντολὴ, as in the same Al. ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν ἐντολῶν in Lev 4:13; Lev 4:27 [instead of the genuine reading, πασῶν]. Furthermore ἐντολὴ, not τῶν ἐντολῶν, is the reading of Al. Gehl., along with many MSS., and the same Nomin. case is defended by the Goth. and Lat. versions.[4]—[ἌΚΟΥΕ, hear) Even this word is a portion belonging to the first commandment.—V. g.]—Κύριος, the Lord) This is the foundation of the first commandment, nay, rather of all the commandments. The Subject of the proposition is, THE LORD our God: the Lord, I say (the God of all); the Predicate, = “is One (God)” [not as Engl. Vers., “The Lord our God is one Lord”]; comp. Mar 12:32, in order that the proper name employed twice [Κυριος—Κύριος] may signify the two great revelations of Jehovah, of which the one embraced the Jewish people, the other the Gentiles also; comp. Psa 72:18, where the proper name is put once, the appellative twice, “Jehovah God, the God of Israel” [Engl. Vers., The Lord God, the God of Israel], the position of the accents being the same as occurs also in 1Ch 12:18, Peace, peace he unto thee! From this unity of God it flows as a consequence, that we owe the whole of our love to Him alone.

[3] yr. the Peschito Syriac Version: second cent.: publ. and corrected by Cureton, from MS. of fifth cent.

[4] Tisch. omits παντ. or πας. τῶν ἐντολῶν, and reads only ὅτι πρώτη ἐστίν, with BLΔ Memph. Lachm., ὅτι πρώτη πάντων [ἐντολὴ ἐστίν] with ACc Vulg. (save that c omits πάντων; A omits ἐστίν; C reads ἔστιν ἀυτὴ. Therefore he brackets ἐντολὴ ἐστίν). Dabc omit ὅτι, which is supported by AB Vulg. Dab also read πάντων πρώτη.—ED. and TRANSL.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mar 12:29 . ἄκουε , Ἰσραήλ , etc.: this monotheistic preface to the great commandment is not given by Mt. Possibly Mk. has added it by way of making the quotation complete, but more probably Jesus Himself quoted it to suggest that duty, like God, was one, in opposition to the prevailing habit of viewing duty as consisting in isolated precepts. Mt. compensates for the omission by preserving the reflection: “On these two commandments hangeth the whole law and the prophets”. In Mk. the bond of unity is God ; in Mt. love .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(29) Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord.—The quotation is given more fully by St. Mark than by St. Matthew. The opening words (from Deu_6:4) were in common use under the name of the Shemà (the Hebrew for “Hear”), and formed the popular expression of the faith of Israel. To say the Shemà was a passport into Paradise for any child of Abraham.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

29. And Jesus answered him] Pointing, it may be, to the Scribe’s tephillah, תפלה, the little leather box containing in one of its four divisions the Shema (Deu_6:4), which every pious Israelite repeated twice a day.

The first of all the commandments] The Saviour quotes the introduction to the ten Commandments (Deu_6:4-5) as the first command, not as forming one of the commandments, but as containing the principle of all.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the second is like,.... "Unto it", as in Mat 22:39 and so it is read here in two ancient copies of Beza's, and in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions;

namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. This commandment stands in Lev 19:18 and respects not an Israelite only, or one of the same religion with a man's self, or his intimate friend and acquaintance, or one that lives in the same neighbourhood; but any man whatever, to whom affection should be shown, and good should be done to him, and for him, as a man would have done to and for himself; as much as lies in his power, both in things temporal and spiritual; see the note on Mat 22:39.

There is none other commandment greater than these; in the whole law, moral or ceremonial; not the sabbath, nor circumcision, nor the phylacteries, nor the fringes on the borders of the garments, nor any other.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:

Ver. 29. Is one Lord] This the wiser heathens, as Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle with his Ens Entium miserere mei (if that were his), acknowledged, Exo 34:14. (εις θεος εστι μονος, Pythag. Buxtorf. Tib.) "Thou shalt worship none other God." Where the word אתר rendered other hath ø greater than ordinary, to show the greatness of the sin of serving other gods, and to set forth a difference betweeen acher, other, and echad, one God; one in three, and three in one. {Hebrew Text Note}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Literally the Lord our God is the only Lord: and this is the sense of the text in Deuteronomy vi. 4. The word in the original text, rendered by the term Lord, is the grand name JEHOVA, which signifies properly God, considered as the supreme Being, or the author of all existence.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The Lord our God is one Lord - This is the foundation of the first commandment, yea, of all the commandments. The Lord our God, the Lord, the God of all men, is one God, essentially, though three persons. From this unity of God it follows, that we owe all our love to him alone. Deut. vi, 4.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

29. [2788][2789][2790][2791] omit πασῶν τῶν ἐντολῶν.

[2788] Codex Sinaiticus. 4th cent. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the Monastery of St Katharine on Mount Sinai. Now at St Petersburg. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1911.

[2789] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[2790] Codex Regius. 8th cent. An important witness. At Paris. Contains Mar 1:1 to Mar 10:15; Mar 10:30 to Mar 15:1; Mar 15:20 to Mar 16:20, but the shorter ending is inserted between Mar 16:8 and Mar 16:9, showing that the scribe preferred it to the longer one.

[2791] Codex Alexandrinus. 5th cent. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to King Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. The whole Gospel. Photographic facsimile, 1879.

29. ἀπεκρίθη. Our Lord again shows that the answer is to be found in what is very familiar. The questioner had to recite twice daily a text which gave him the principle which he desired. That principle is the love of God, which is indicated in the Second Commandment, “showing mercy unto thousands in them that love Me,” and is set forth again and again in Deut. as that which ought to be the leading principle in human conduct (Deu 10:12, Deu 11:1; Deu 11:13; Deu 11:22, Deu 13:3, Deu 19:9, Deu 30:6; Deu 30:16; Deu 30:20). It there appears as the first commandment of all. See Driver on Deu 6:5. Praeceptum non modo maximum amplitudine, sed etiam primum natura (Beng.).

κύριος ὁ θεὸς κ.τ.λ. Of the three renderings (A.V., R.V., R.V. marg.) the first is the more approved rendering of the Hebrew; “Jehovah our God is one Jehovah” = “The Lord our God is one Lord” (R.V. in Deu 6:5 and A.V. here).

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

29. Ἀπεκρίθη ὁ Ἰησοῦς, Ὅτι πρώτη ἐστίν—Jesus answered, The first is.

Ἀπεκρίθη ὁ Ἰησοῦς, instead of Ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς ἀπεκρίθη, Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. א BL Δ 33, Memph. Pesh. Omit αὐτῶ, Tisch. (Treg.) WH. RV. on same authority. ἐστίν, instead of πασῶν τῶν ἐντολῶν, Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. א BL Δ Memph.

Ἄκουε, Ἰσραήλ, Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, Κύριος εἷς ἐστί—Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is one.1 These words, calling the attention of Israel to the oneness of Jehovah, were used at the beginning of morning and evening prayer in the temple, as a call to worship. Κύριος, Lord, is the translation of the Heb. Yahweh, and it is probable therefore that the second Κύριος is subject instead of predicate.2 This unity has for its conclusion, that worship is not to be divided among several deities, but concentrated on one.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.