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InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Mark C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16
Mark 12 V1 V3 V5 V7 V9 V11 V13 V15 V17 V19 V21 V23 V25 V27 V29 V31 V33 V35 V37 V39 V41 V43
OET (OET-LV) And the Yaʸsous having_seen him, that he_answered intelligently, said to_him:
You_are not far from the kingdom of_ the _god.
And no_one no_longer was_daring to_ask him.
OET (OET-RV) When Yeshua saw that he’d given such a thoughtful answer, he said, “You’re very close to God’s kingdom!”
¶ After that, no one else dared to ask Yeshua any more questions.
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.
When Jesus saw that the man had answered wisely, He said,
When Jesus heard him speak so wisely, he said to him,
Jesus noticed that the man had shown real wisdom in his answer, so he told him,
When Jesus saw that the man had answered wisely: Jesus realized that the scribe had spoken wisely.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
When Jesus heard how wisely the man answered (GW)
Realizing how much the man understood… (NLT)
Jesus noticed how wise his answer was (GNT)
The man’s answer showed that he was wise, so Jesus said to him
“You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
“You are close to entering the kingdom of God.”
“You are almost ready to be one of the people whom God rules.”
You are not far from the kingdom of God: Here Jesus praised the man for the attitude and belief that he expressed in 12:32–33. The phrase not far from the kingdom of God indicates the man was almost ready to submit to God’s rule and become one of the people whom God cares for as king. It does not refer to the location of the man or of the kingdom.
Here are some other ways to translate You are not far from the kingdom of God:
You are almost ready to know/acknowledge God as your king
You are almost prepared to submit to God’s rule/chieftaincy
You are nearly ready to become one of the people whom God rules.
See the note on 9:47b for discussion of a similar context.
kingdom of God: The phrase kingdom of God refers to God’s activity of ruling and caring for his people as their king. It does not refer to a land or country that he rules over. It refers to the relationship that he has with his people. He leads, protects, and cares for them. They obey, trust, and submit to him as their king.
Here are some other ways to translate this:
As a noun. For example:
God’s rule/reign
God’s kingship
God’s chieftaincy
God’s government
As a verbal expression:
God ruling his people
God caring for his people as king
See also kingdom of God, Context 1, in the Glossary.
And no one dared to question Him any further.
And after that, no one was bold enough to question Jesus further.
From that time on, no one had the courage to ask Jesus any more tricky/difficult questions.
no one dared to question Him: People were afraid to test Jesus with any more hard or tricky questions. They realized that he was very skillful at answering questions wisely. In the remainder of the book of Mark, Jesus’ disciples did ask him more questions, and some of them were rhetorical. But from this point on there is no record in Mark that anyone asked Jesus any more questions to try to trick him.When Jesus said “you are not far from the kingdom,” that seems to indicate that the man’s agreement in 12:32–33 with Jesus’ answer showed that the man was asking a sincere question in 12:28. Or perhaps it meant that the man could state what a Jewish person should do but did not personally do that himself. On the other hand, no one dared ask Jesus any more questions. Why? Perhaps this indicates that the man’s question was not sincere after all, but tricky.
dared: The word dared indicates that no one felt bold enough to ask Jesus any more difficult questions. They felt unable to trick him because he had answered every question so wisely.
any further: The phrase any further refers to the time period that began when Jesus said the words in 12:34a–b and continued into the future.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy
ἰδὼν αὐτὸν ὅτι
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἰδών αὐτόν ὅτι νουνεχῶς ἀπεκρίθη εἶπεν αὐτῷ οὒ μακράν Εἶ ἀπό τῆς Βασιλείας τοῦ Θεοῦ Καί οὐδείς οὐκέτι ἐτόλμα αὐτόν ἐπερωτῆσαι)
Here, Mark is using the word seen to mean “observed” or “knew.” He is describing something a person would perceive with their mind by association with their eyes. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use an equivalent expression or plain language. Alternate translation: [having understood that] or [having observed that]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
οὐ μακρὰν εἶ ἀπὸ τῆς Βασιλείας τοῦ Θεοῦ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἰδών αὐτόν ὅτι νουνεχῶς ἀπεκρίθη εἶπεν αὐτῷ οὒ μακράν Εἶ ἀπό τῆς Βασιλείας τοῦ Θεοῦ Καί οὐδείς οὐκέτι ἐτόλμα αὐτόν ἐπερωτῆσαι)
Here, Jesus speaks as if the man was physically not far from the kingdom of God. He means that the man is almost part of God’s kingdom. Jesus is speaking of the kingdom of God as if it were a physical place. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a comparable figure of speech or state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [You are almost in the kingdom of God] or [You almost belong to the kingdom of God]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / litotes
οὐ μακρὰν & ἀπὸ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἰδών αὐτόν ὅτι νουνεχῶς ἀπεκρίθη εἶπεν αὐτῷ οὒ μακράν Εἶ ἀπό τῆς Βασιλείας τοῦ Θεοῦ Καί οὐδείς οὐκέτι ἐτόλμα αὐτόν ἐπερωτῆσαι)
Jesus is using a figure of speech here that expresses a strongly positive meaning by using a negative word, not, together with an expression that is the opposite of the intended meaning, far. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the positive meaning. Alternate translation: [very close to]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / doublenegatives
οὐδεὶς οὐκέτι ἐτόλμα
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἰδών αὐτόν ὅτι νουνεχῶς ἀπεκρίθη εἶπεν αὐτῷ οὒ μακράν Εἶ ἀπό τῆς Βασιλείας τοῦ Θεοῦ Καί οὐδείς οὐκέτι ἐτόλμα αὐτόν ἐπερωτῆσαι)
The words translated no one and any longer are two negative words. In this construction, the second negative does not cancel the first to create a positive meaning. Instead, it gives greater emphasis to the negative. If your language can use two negatives that do not cancel one another to create a positive meaning, you could use a double negative here. If your language does not use two negatives in that way, you could translate with one negative, as the ULT does. Alternate translation: [people no longer were daring]
12:34 The account ends with Jesus’ commending the teacher of religious law for recognizing that this twofold command was more important than burnt offerings and sacrifices (see Hos 6:6). We are left uncertain as to the fate of this man. He was not far from the Kingdom of God, but did he enter it? Mark might have intentionally left this question unanswered so that each reader would wrestle with the question, Have I entered the Kingdom of God?
OET (OET-LV) And the Yaʸsous having_seen him, that he_answered intelligently, said to_him:
You_are not far from the kingdom of_ the _god.
And no_one no_longer was_daring to_ask him.
OET (OET-RV) When Yeshua saw that he’d given such a thoughtful answer, he said, “You’re very close to God’s kingdom!”
¶ After that, no one else dared to ask Yeshua any more questions.
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.
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