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OET (OET-LV) and, the To_be_loving him with all the heart, and with all the intelligence, and with all the strength, and, which To_be_loving his neighbour as himself, is more_important all the whole_burnt_offerings and sacrifices.
OET (OET-RV) and saying that we should love him with all our heart and all our intelligence and all our strength, and to be loving our neighbours like we look after ourselves, and all this is more important than all the required temple offerings and sacrifices.”
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.
In this verse the scribe repeated the meaning of what Jesus said.Notice that the scribe repeated what Jesus said in a slightly different way. Both Jesus and the teacher were expressing the meaning of Deuteronomy 6:5. Here are the lists that were used in Deuteronomy and by Jesus and the teacher:Deuteronomy: heart, soul, strengthTeacher: heart, mind, strengthJesus: heart, soul, mind, strength He emphasized that it was very important. In Greek he did this in one long sentence. In some languages it may be more natural to use a different way to express the meaning. For example:
And you must love God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength. You must love your neighbor as you love yourself. It is more important to do this than to offer all burnt offerings and other sacrifices to God.
See the General Comment on 12:33a–d at the end of 12:33d for another suggestion.
and to love Him with all your heart and with all your understanding
God wants people to love him with all their determination/will and with all their understanding.
God wants us(incl) to love him with all our being and with all our intelligence.
to love Him with all your heart: In Greek this phrase is literally “to love him from the whole of the heart.” It is almost the same expression that was used in 12:30a–b. You could translate in a similar way here.
with all your understanding: In Greek this is literally “from the whole of the intelligence.” The Greek word that the BSB translates as understanding means “the ability to understand something.” It is a different word than the one Jesus used in 12:30c that the BSB translated as “mind.” However, these two words have almost the same meaning in this context.
and with all your strength,
He wants people to love him with all their ability,
God wants us(incl) to love him with all our power/strength,
and with all your strength: The Greek word that the BSB translates as strength is the same Greek word that is used in 12:30c. It refers to a person’s ability to do something. It may also include his physical strength or power.
and to love your neighbor as yourself,
and to love other people as they love themselves.
and to love our(incl) fellow men in the same way that we love ourselves.
and to love your neighbor as yourself: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as love your neighbor as yourself refers to loving another person in the same way that you love yourself. This has the same meaning as the same expression in 12:31b.
which is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
Obeying these two commands is more important than to offer to God all the burnt offerings and sacrifices that our(incl) law requires.”
It is more important that we(incl) obey these two commands than to give to God all the burnt offerings and sacrifices that we offer.”
This part of the verse implies that the scribe agreed with Jesus’ statement in 12:31c.
which is more important than: Here the scribe indicated that he was comparing two important commands in the law:
It is important for a person to love God and his neighbor very much, and
It is important for a person to offer burnt offerings and sacrifices.
Of these two commands, it is more important for a person to love God and his neighbor. In some languages it may be difficult to express this comparison with a phrase like “more…than.” Use a natural way in your language. See the General Comment on 12:33a–d for a suggestion.
all burnt offerings and sacrifices: In the Old Testament God commanded the Jews to burn whole animals as offerings and to also offer other sacrifices to him. The phrase all burnt offerings and sacrifices contains implied information. The word all implies “all that the law requires” or “all that we have been offering.”
burnt offerings: The Greek word that the BSB translates as burnt offerings is literally “whole burnt offerings.” This refers to animals that the priests sacrificed to God and completely burned up on the altar.
Here are some other ways to translate burnt offerings:
sacrificing animals to God by burning them
to burn animals as a sacrifice to God
and sacrifices: The word that the BSB translates as sacrifices is a general term that refers to different kinds of offerings. Here it includes other kinds of animal sacrifices (besides the burnt offerings). It also includes other things that people offered to God, such as wheat, oil and wine.
If you need a more general way to translate the word sacrifices, you could say something like:
other things that people give/offer to God
Here is one way to translate this whole phrase:
to offer on the altar animals and other sacrifices to God (GNT)
The focus here is not on specific kinds of offerings. If it awkward to describe a “whole burnt offering” in your language, consider using a more general term. For example:
all the animals and sacrifices we offer to God (NCV)
all the sacrifices and offerings that we could possibly make (CEV)
You may also want to add a footnote containing some of the preceding information about offerings and sacrifices.
In some languages it may be helpful to change the order of some of the verse parts. It may also be helpful to include implied information. For example:
It is important to offer God all burnt offerings and sacrifices that he has commanded. But it is more important that we love him with all our heart, all our understanding, and all our strength. It is also more important to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Translate this verse in a way that is clear and natural in your language.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / merism
ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας, καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς συνέσεως, καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ἰσχύος
with all the heart with all the with all the (Some words not found in SR-GNT: καί τό Ἀγαπᾶν αὐτόν ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας καί ἐξ ὅλης τῆς συνέσεως καί ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ἰσχύος καί τό Ἀγαπᾶν τόν πλησίον ὡς ἑαυτόν περισσότερον ἐστίν πάντων τῶν ὁλοκαυτωμάτων καί θυσιῶν)
Here, the scribe is referring to all of a human being by naming multiple parts of it. See how you expressed the similar idea in [12:30](../12/30.md). Alternate translation: [with all of who one is] or [with the entire being]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας
with all the heart
See how you translated the similar phrase in [12:30](../12/30.md). Alternate translation: [from all the desires] or [with all one’s feelings]
(Occurrence -1) ἐξ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: καί τό Ἀγαπᾶν αὐτόν ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας καί ἐξ ὅλης τῆς συνέσεως καί ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ἰσχύος καί τό Ἀγαπᾶν τόν πλησίον ὡς ἑαυτόν περισσότερον ἐστίν πάντων τῶν ὁλοκαυτωμάτων καί θυσιῶν)
Alternate translation: [with … with … with]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns
ἐξ ὅλης τῆς συνέσεως
with all the with all the intelligence
If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea of understanding, you could express the same idea in another way. Alternate translation: [from everything that one understands] or [with the whole mind]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns
ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ἰσχύος
with all the with all the with all the strength
See how you translated the similar phrase in [12:30](../12/30.md). Alternate translation: [from how strong one is] or [with everything that one is able to do]
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / ellipsis
ὡς ἑαυτὸν
as (Some words not found in SR-GNT: καί τό Ἀγαπᾶν αὐτόν ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας καί ἐξ ὅλης τῆς συνέσεως καί ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ἰσχύος καί τό Ἀγαπᾶν τόν πλησίον ὡς ἑαυτόν περισσότερον ἐστίν πάντων τῶν ὁλοκαυτωμάτων καί θυσιῶν)
The scribe is leaving out some of the words that a sentence would need in many languages to be complete. If it would be helpful in your language, you could supply these words from the context. See how you expressed the similar idea in [12:31](../12/31.md). Alternate translation: [as one love oneself]
Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / simile
ὡς ἑαυτὸν
as (Some words not found in SR-GNT: καί τό Ἀγαπᾶν αὐτόν ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας καί ἐξ ὅλης τῆς συνέσεως καί ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ἰσχύος καί τό Ἀγαπᾶν τόν πλησίον ὡς ἑαυτόν περισσότερον ἐστίν πάντων τῶν ὁλοκαυτωμάτων καί θυσιῶν)
See how you expressed this idea in [12:31](../12/31.md). Alternate translation: [as deeply as oneself]
Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
περισσότερόν ἐστιν
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: καί τό Ἀγαπᾶν αὐτόν ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας καί ἐξ ὅλης τῆς συνέσεως καί ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ἰσχύος καί τό Ἀγαπᾶν τόν πλησίον ὡς ἑαυτόν περισσότερον ἐστίν πάντων τῶν ὁλοκαυτωμάτων καί θυσιῶν)
Here the scribe means that keeping these two commandments is more important or significant than offering burnt offerings and sacrifices. If it would be helpful in your language, you could make that idea more explicit. Alternate translation: [is even more important than] or [is more significant than]
Note 8 topic: figures-of-speech / doublet
πάντων τῶν ὁλοκαυτωμάτων καὶ θυσιῶν
all the whole_burnt_offerings (Some words not found in SR-GNT: καί τό Ἀγαπᾶν αὐτόν ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας καί ἐξ ὅλης τῆς συνέσεως καί ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ἰσχύος καί τό Ἀγαπᾶν τόν πλησίον ὡς ἑαυτόν περισσότερον ἐστίν πάντων τῶν ὁλοκαυτωμάτων καί θυσιῶν)
The terms whole burnt offerings and sacrifices mean similar things. The scribe is using the two terms together to include all the different kinds of sacrifices and offerings in his claim. If it would be clearer for your readers, you could express the emphasis with a single phrase. Alternate translation: [all the various offerings] or [all sacrifices that anyone might offer]
12:28-34 After the three hostile challenges of 11:27–12:27, the reader might expect the next question to Jesus to be hostile (see 11:28; 12:13, 15, 19-23), but this was not a hostile counter. Earlier references in Mark to the teachers of religious law have portrayed them as antagonistic (2:6-7, 16; 3:22; 7:1, 5; 8:31; 9:14; 10:33; 11:18, 27), and Jesus will warn the crowds against their hypocrisy (12:38-40), but this teacher was positively inclined toward Jesus (12:28, 32) and praised him (12:32-33). Jesus described the man’s answer to his question as having understanding, and Jesus said that the man was not far from the Kingdom of God (12:34).
OET (OET-LV) and, the To_be_loving him with all the heart, and with all the intelligence, and with all the strength, and, which To_be_loving his neighbour as himself, is more_important all the whole_burnt_offerings and sacrifices.
OET (OET-RV) and saying that we should love him with all our heart and all our intelligence and all our strength, and to be loving our neighbours like we look after ourselves, and all this is more important than all the required temple offerings and sacrifices.”
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.