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Mark 12:28-34
New Living Translation
Mark 12:28-34
New Living Translation
The Most Important Commandment
28 One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’[a] 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] No other commandment is greater than these.”
32 The teacher of religious law replied, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other. 33 And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.”
34 Realizing how much the man understood, Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.
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Mark 12:28-34
New King James Version
Mark 12:28-34
New King James Version
The Scribes: Which Is the First Commandment of All?(A)
28 (B)Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, [a]perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the [b]first commandment of all?”
29 Jesus answered him, “The [c]first of all the commandments is: (C)‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall (D)love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ [d]This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: (E)‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than (F)these.”
32 So the scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, (G)and there is no other but He. 33 And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, [e]with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, (H)is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34 Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
(I)But after that no one dared question Him.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Mark 12:28 NU seeing
- Mark 12:28 foremost
- Mark 12:29 foremost
- Mark 12:30 NU omits the rest of v. 30.
- Mark 12:33 NU omits with all the soul
Mark 12:28-34
Christian Standard Bible
Mark 12:28-34
Christian Standard Bible
The Primary Commands
28 One(A) of the scribes(B) approached. When he heard them debating and saw that Jesus answered them well, he asked him, “Which command is the most important of all?”
29 Jesus answered, “The most important[a] is Listen, Israel! The Lord(C) our God, the Lord(D) is one.[b] 30 Love(E) the Lord your God(F) with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind,(G) and with all your strength.[c][d](H) 31 The second is, Love your neighbor(I) as yourself.[e](J) There is no other command(K) greater than these.”
32 Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, teacher. You have correctly said that he is one, and there is no one(L) else except him.(M) 33 And to love(N) him with all your heart, with all your understanding,[f] and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, is far more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.”(O)
34 When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”(P) And no one dared(Q) to question him any longer.
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Mark 12:28-34
New International Version
Mark 12:28-34
New International Version
The Greatest Commandment(A)
28 One of the teachers of the law(B) came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[b](C) 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c](D) There is no commandment greater than these.”
32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him.(E) 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”(F)
34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”(G) And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.(H)
Footnotes
- Mark 12:29 Or The Lord our God is one Lord
- Mark 12:30 Deut. 6:4,5
- Mark 12:31 Lev. 19:18
Mark 12:28-34
The Message
Mark 12:28-34
The Message
The Most Important Commandment
28 One of the religion scholars came up. Hearing the lively exchanges of question and answer and seeing how sharp Jesus was in his answers, he put in his question: “Which is most important of all the commandments?”
29-31 Jesus said, “The first in importance is, ‘Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.’ And here is the second: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ There is no other commandment that ranks with these.”
32-33 The religion scholar said, “A wonderful answer, Teacher! So clear-cut and accurate—that God is one and there is no other. And loving him with all passion and intelligence and energy, and loving others as well as you love yourself. Why, that’s better than all offerings and sacrifices put together!”
34 When Jesus realized how insightful he was, he said, “You’re almost there, right on the border of God’s kingdom.”
After that, no one else dared ask a question.
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New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
New King James Version (NKJV) 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
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