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OET (OET-LV) The_second is this:
You_will_be_loving the neighbour of_you as yourself.
Another command is not greater than these.
OET (OET-RV) And the second is: ‘Love your neighbour like you look after yourself.’ There’s no other commands more important than these.”
A scribe asked Jesus which was the greatest commandment in the law. Jesus said that there are two great commands: love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.
The scribe in this section may have been honestly seeking the truth. Or he may have been trying to discredit Jesus by asking him a difficult question.Mark 12:34 may imply that the man truly wanted to know the answer. In the parallel passage in Matthew 22:34–40, a scribe asked this same question to test Jesus. Nothing in this section in Mark suggests that the scribe was testing Jesus. It would be good to translate this section so that either interpretation is possible.
It is good to translate this section before you decide on a heading for it.
Here are some other possible headings for this section:
The Most Important Commandment (CEV, NLT)
God’s greatest command is to love him and our neighbors
There is a parallel passage for this section in Matthew 22:34–40. Mark 12:30–31 is also parallel to Luke 10:27.
The second is this:
And this is the second most important of God’s commands/laws:
The next command/law that is more important than others is this:
The second is this: Here Jesus introduced the second most important of God’s commands. Here are some other ways to introduce this in English:
The second most important commandment is this: (GW)
Here is God’s command that is the next in importance:
Introduce it in a natural way in your language.
‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
‘Love(sing) your fellow man as you love yourself.’
‘You(plur) must love other people in the same way that you love yourselves.’
In this part of the verse Jesus was quoting from Leviticus 19:18. If you use footnotes, you may want to cross-reference this verse.
Love your neighbor as yourself: In both Hebrew and Greek, this command is in a singular form, like the command in 12:30. This indicates that it is a command to each person, but it applies to all people. Jesus made a general statement about how people should treat each other.
Languages have different ways to express commands like this. In some languages it may be more natural to use words like “we” and “our” or “they” and “their.” For example:
We(incl) must love our fellow men in the same way that we love ourselves.
People must love their neighbors in the same way that they love themselves.
Love: The Greek word that the BSB translates here as Love is the same word that was used in 12:30a. In this context it refers to the concern and affection that people should have toward other people. They should treat them kindly and seek to help them.
Consider the most appropriate term to describe this type of love. Some languages may have an idiom for it. It is possible that you may need to use different expressions to refer to love for people and love for God.
your neighbor: The word neighbor is singular, but it refers to any and all neighbors. In some languages it may be more natural to use a plural form to express this. The word neighbor means “someone who lives nearby.” It was also used to refer to people who were of the same social group or who spoke the same language. To the Jews the phrase “Love your neighbor” meant to love your fellow Jew.
In his teaching Jesus expanded the meaning of neighbor. To Jesus, the phrase “Love your neighbor” meant to love anyone you meet. (See Luke 10:27–37.) In some languages you may want to include a footnote about this.
Here are some other ways to translate the phrase your neighbor:
others (CEV)
your fellow people
No other commandment is greater than these.”
There is no other command of God that is more important than these two commands.”
God has given no greater command than these two commands.”
These are the greatest commandments of all.”
No other commandment is greater than these: This clause indicates that no other command of God is greater than the two commands that were mentioned in 12:30 and 12:31. In this context the word greater means “more important.”In Matthew 22:40 Jesus said that all the Jewish Scriptures are based on these two commands.
Here is another way to translate this sentence:
Those two commands are more important than any others. (TRT)
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
δευτέρα
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Δευτέρα αὕτη Ἀγαπήσεις τόν πλησίον σοῦ ὡς σεαυτόν μείζων τούτων Ἄλλη ἐντολή οὐκ ἐστίν)
Here, the scribe is using the word second to refer to what is the second most important thing. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a comparable figure of speech or state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [The next most significant] or [The second greatest]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / nominaladj
δευτέρα
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Δευτέρα αὕτη Ἀγαπήσεις τόν πλησίον σοῦ ὡς σεαυτόν μείζων τούτων Ἄλλη ἐντολή οὐκ ἐστίν)
Jesus is using the adjective second as a noun to mean the second commandment. Your language may use adjectives in the same way. If not, you could translate this word with an equivalent phrase. Alternate translation: [The second commandment]
Note 3 topic: translate-ordinal
δευτέρα
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Δευτέρα αὕτη Ἀγαπήσεις τόν πλησίον σοῦ ὡς σεαυτόν μείζων τούτων Ἄλλη ἐντολή οὐκ ἐστίν)
If your language does not use ordinal numbers, you could use a cardinal number here or an equivalent expression. Alternate translation: [Number two]
Note 4 topic: writing-quotations
αὕτη, ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν
this (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Δευτέρα αὕτη Ἀγαπήσεις τόν πλησίον σοῦ ὡς σεαυτόν μείζων τούτων Ἄλλη ἐντολή οὐκ ἐστίν)
Here Jesus quotes from the Old Testament scriptures, specifically from [Leviticus 19:18](../lev/19/18.md). If it would be helpful to your readers, you could format these words in a different way and include this information in a footnote. Alternate translation: [is this commandment from the book of Leviticus: ‘You will love your neighbor as yourself]
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / quotations
αὕτη, ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν
this (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Δευτέρα αὕτη Ἀγαπήσεις τόν πλησίον σοῦ ὡς σεαυτόν μείζων τούτων Ἄλλη ἐντολή οὐκ ἐστίν)
If it would be clearer in your language, you could translate this so that there is not a quotation within a quotation. Alternate translation: [is that one should love one’s neighbor as oneself.]
Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / yousingular
ἀγαπήσεις & σου & σεαυτόν
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Δευτέρα αὕτη Ἀγαπήσεις τόν πλησίον σοῦ ὡς σεαυτόν μείζων τούτων Ἄλλη ἐντολή οὐκ ἐστίν)
Since in this command God is addressing each specific person who is part of God’s people, the words You, your, and yourself are singular.
Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / declarative
ἀγαπήσεις
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Δευτέρα αὕτη Ἀγαπήσεις τόν πλησίον σοῦ ὡς σεαυτόν μείζων τούτων Ἄλλη ἐντολή οὐκ ἐστίν)
The author of the quotation is using the future form to give a command. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the idea using a form that expresses a command or obligation. Alternate translation: [You should love] or [You must love]
Note 8 topic: figures-of-speech / ellipsis
ὡς σεαυτόν
as yourself
The author of the quotation is leaving out some of the words that in many languages a sentence would need in order to be complete. You could supply these words from earlier in the sentence if it would be clearer in your language. Alternate translation: [as you love yourself]
Note 9 topic: figures-of-speech / simile
ὡς σεαυτόν
as yourself
The author of the quotation assumes that people love themselves, so he wants these people to love their neighbors just as much. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state that explicitly. Alternate translation: [as deeply as yourself]
μείζων τούτων ἄλλη ἐντολὴ οὐκ ἔστιν
greater_‹than› these (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Δευτέρα αὕτη Ἀγαπήσεις τόν πλησίον σοῦ ὡς σεαυτόν μείζων τούτων Ἄλλη ἐντολή οὐκ ἐστίν)
Alternate translation: [All other commandments are less important than these]
Note 10 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns
ἄλλη ἐντολὴ οὐκ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Δευτέρα αὕτη Ἀγαπήσεις τόν πλησίον σοῦ ὡς σεαυτόν μείζων τούτων Ἄλλη ἐντολή οὐκ ἐστίν)
If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea of commandment, you could express the same idea in another way. Alternate translation: [nothing that God commanded us that is]
Note 11 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
τούτων
these
Here, the word these refers to the two commandments that Jesus has just quoted. If it would be helpful in your language, you could make that idea more explicit. Alternate translation: [those two commandments]
OET (OET-LV) The_second is this:
You_will_be_loving the neighbour of_you as yourself.
Another command is not greater than these.
OET (OET-RV) And the second is: ‘Love your neighbour like you look after yourself.’ There’s no other commands more important than these.”
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.