Mark 7:8-9

7:8 Having no regard ¹  for the command of God, you hold fast to human tradition.” ²  7:9 He also said to them, “You neatly reject the commandment of God in order to set up ³  your tradition.

Mark 10:5

10:5 But Jesus said to them, “He wrote this commandment for you because of your hard hearts. ⁴ 

Mark 12:31

12:31 The second is: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁵  There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Mark 12:28

The Greatest Commandment

12:28 Now ⁶  one of the experts in the law ⁷  came and heard them debating. When he saw that Jesus ⁸  answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”

Mark 10:19

10:19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’” ⁹ 

¹ tn Grk “Having left the command.”

² tc The majority of mss, mostly Byzantine ([A] ˹³ 33 Ï), have at the end of v. 8 material that seems to have come from v. 4 and v. 13: “the washing of pots and cups, and you do many other similar things.” A slight variation on the wording occurs at the very beginning of v. 8 in mostly Western witnesses (D Θ 0131^vid 28 565 it). Such floating texts are usually signs of scribal emendations. The fact that the earliest and most reliable mss, as well as other important witnesses (Ì⁴⁵ א B L W Δ 0274 ˹ 2427 co), lacked this material also strongly suggests that the longer reading is secondary.

³ tc The translation here follows the reading στήσητε (sthshte, “set up”) found in D W Θ Ë¹ 28 565 2542 it sy^s,p Cyp. The majority of mss here read τηρήσητε (thrhsete; א A L ˹³ 33 Ï co) or τηρῆτε (thrhte; B 2427), both translated “keep.” It is hard to know which reading is best: On the one hand, τηρήσητε/τηρῆτε has much stronger external support, but στήσητε is a more difficult reading. What makes “keep” suspect is that it appears in two different forms, suggesting independent alterations of a difficult reading. Further, scribes may have been influenced by the preceding “commandment of God” to change the text toward “keep” (TCGNT 81), a common enough expression (cf. Matt 19:17; John 14:15; 1 Tim 6:1; 1 John 5:3; Rev 14:12). Thus, the more difficult reading is “set up.” Also, the more natural opposite of “reject” (ἀθεῖτε [aqeite], literally “you set aside”) is “set up.” However, the Western reading may have been influenced by Exod 6:4 or Heb 10:9, but this likelihood seems remote. Thus, “set up” is more likely to be the original wording of Mark here.

⁵ tn Grk “heart” (a collective singular).

⁷ sn A quotation from Lev 19:18.

⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

¹⁰ tn Or “One of the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

¹¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹¹ sn A quotation from Exod 20:12-16; Deut 5:16-20, except for do not defraud, which is an allusion to Deut 24:14.