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Matthew 22:34-46
Good News Translation
Matthew 22:34-46
Good News Translation
The Great Commandment(A)
34 When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they came together, 35 and one of them, a teacher of the Law, tried to trap him with a question. 36 “Teacher,” he asked, “which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 (B)Jesus answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and the most important commandment. 39 (C)The second most important commandment is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ 40 (D)The whole Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
The Question about the Messiah(E)
41 When some Pharisees gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose descendant is he?”
“He is David's descendant,” they answered.
43 “Why, then,” Jesus asked, “did the Spirit inspire David to call him ‘Lord’? David said,
44 (F)‘The Lord said to my Lord:
Sit here at my right side
until I put your enemies under your feet.’
45 If, then, David called him ‘Lord,’ how can the Messiah be David's descendant?”
46 No one was able to give Jesus any answer, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.
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Matthew 22:34-46
New International Version
Matthew 22:34-46
New International Version
The Greatest Commandment(A)
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,(B) the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law,(C) tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a](D) 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b](E) 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”(F)
Whose Son Is the Messiah?(G)
41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”
“The son of David,”(H) they replied.
43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,
44 “‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
under your feet.”’[c](I)
45 If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” 46 No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.(J)
Footnotes
- Matthew 22:37 Deut. 6:5
- Matthew 22:39 Lev. 19:18
- Matthew 22:44 Psalm 110:1
Matthew 22:34-46
The Message
Matthew 22:34-46
The Message
The Most Important Command
34-36 When the Pharisees heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: “Teacher, which command in God’s Law is the most important?”
37-40 Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”
David’s Son and Master
41-42 As the Pharisees were regrouping, Jesus caught them off balance with his own test question: “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said, “David’s son.”
43-45 Jesus replied, “Well, if the Christ is David’s son, how do you explain that David, under inspiration, named Christ his ‘Master’?
God said to my Master,
“Sit here at my right hand
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
“Now if David calls him ‘Master,’ how can he at the same time be his son?”
46 That stumped them, literalists that they were. Unwilling to risk losing face again in one of these public verbal exchanges, they quit asking questions for good.
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Good News Translation (GNT) 
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson