Mark 12:32-33

12:32 The expert in the law said to him, “That is true, Teacher; you are right to say that he is one, and there is no one else besides him. 12:33 And to love him with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

Deuteronomy 6:4

The Essence of the Covenant Principles

6:4 Listen, Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!

Deuteronomy 10:12

An Exhortation to Love Both God and People

10:12 Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you except to revere him, to obey all his commandments, to love him, to serve him with all your mind and being,

Deuteronomy 30:6

30:6 The Lord your God will also cleanse your heart and the hearts of your descendants 10  so that you may love him 11  with all your mind and being and so that you may live.

Proverbs 23:26

23:26 Give me your heart, my son, 12 

and let your eyes observe my ways;

Matthew 10:37

10:37 “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Luke 10:27

10:27 The expert 13  answered, “Love 14  the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, 15  and love your neighbor as yourself.” 16 

Luke 10:1

The Mission of the Seventy-Two

10:1 After this 17  the Lord appointed seventy-two 18  others and sent them on ahead of him two by two into every town 19  and place where he himself was about to go.

Luke 1:5

Birth Announcement of John the Baptist

1:5 During the reign 20  of Herod 21  king of Judea, there lived a priest named Zechariah who belonged to 22  the priestly division of Abijah, 23  and he had a wife named Elizabeth, 24  who was a descendant of Aaron. 25 


sn A quotation from Deut 4:35.

sn A quotation from Deut 6:5.

sn A quotation from Lev 19:18.

tn Heb “the Lord, our God, the Lord, one.” (1) One option is to translate: “The Lord is our God, the Lord alone” (cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT). This would be an affirmation that the Lord was the sole object of their devotion. This interpretation finds support from the appeals to loyalty that follow (vv. 5, 14). (2) Another option is to translate: “The Lord is our God, the Lord is unique.” In this case the text would be affirming the people’s allegiance to the Lord, as well as the Lord’s superiority to all other gods. It would also imply that he is the only one worthy of their worship. Support for this view comes from parallel texts such as Deut 7:9 and 10:17, as well as the use of “one” in Song 6:8-9, where the starstruck lover declares that his beloved is unique (literally, “one,” that is, “one of a kind”) when compared to all other women.

tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 10:4.

tn Heb “to walk in all his ways” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “follow his ways exactly”; NLT “to live according to his will.”

tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 10:4.

tn Heb “heart and soul” or “heart and being”; NCV “with your whole being.” See note on the word “being” in Deut 6:5.

tn Heb “circumcise” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “will give you and your descendents obedient hearts.” See note on the word “cleanse” in Deut 10:16.

10 tn Heb “seed” (so KJV, ASV).

11 tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on the second occurrence of the word “he” in v. 3.

12 tn Heb “my son”; the reference to a “son” is retained in the translation here because in the following lines the advice is to avoid women who are prostitutes.

13 tn Grk “And he”; the referent (the expert in religious law, shortened here to “the expert”) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

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

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

16 tn This portion of the reply is a quotation from Lev 19:18. The verb is repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

17 tn Grk “And after these things.” Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

18 tc There is a difficult textual problem here and in v. 17, where the number is either “seventy” (א A C L W Θ Ξ Ψ Ë1,13 Ï and several church fathers and early versions) or “seventy-two” (Ì75 B D 0181 pc lat as well as other versions and fathers). The more difficult reading is “seventy-two,” since scribes would be prone to assimilate this passage to several OT passages that refer to groups of seventy people (Num 11:13-17; Deut 10:22; Judg 8:30; 2 Kgs 10:1 et al.); this reading also has slightly better ms support. “Seventy” could be the preferred reading if scribes drew from the tradition of the number of translators of the LXX, which the Letter of Aristeas puts at seventy-two (TCGNT 127), although this is far less likely. All things considered, “seventy-two” is a much more difficult reading and accounts for the rise of the other. Only Luke notes a second larger mission like the one in 9:1-6.

19 tn Or “city.”

20 tn Grk “It happened that in the days.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

21 sn Herod was Herod the Great, who ruled Palestine from 37 b.c. until he died in 4 b.c. He was known for his extensive building projects (including the temple in Jerusalem) and for his cruelty.

22 tn Grk “of”; but the meaning of the preposition ἐκ (ek) is more accurately expressed in contemporary English by the relative clause “who belonged to.”

23 sn There were twenty-four divisions of priesthood and the priestly division of Abijah was eighth on the list according to 1 Chr 24:10.

24 tn Grk “and her name was Elizabeth.”

25 tn Grk “a wife of the daughters of Aaron.”