Translation commentary on Mark 12:31

Exegesis:

The commandment quoted is from Lev. 19.18, and follows the Septuagint literally.

plēsion (12.33) is an adverb used as a noun, meaning ‘neighbor.’ In this context it does not indicate simply the person who lives next door, but represents the Hebrew reʿa ‘fellow citizen,’ or, in a more general way, ‘the other man,’ ‘fellow-man.’

hōs seauton ‘as yourself’: in the same way a man loves himself he is to love his fellow-man.

Translation:

The second may require the addition of the noun ‘commandment,’ sometimes with a shift in order of subject and predicate elements, e.g. ‘this is the second commandment.’

The form of this command is in the singular, including not only the subject you but the object neighbor. In many languages, however, this use of the singular would be understood to mean that Jesus was telling the particular man that he should love his one neighbor. In order for this to be generic, many languages require plurals, e.g. ‘you (plural) should love your neighbors.’

The English form employs the future auxiliary shall but the meaning is obligatory, which in many languages must be rendered as ‘must,’ ‘ought to,’ or ‘should.’

For love see 10.21.

Neighbor is usually quite easily translated, but there are sometimes certain idiomatic forms which are employed, e.g. ‘a person outside of your building’ (Barrow Eskimo), ‘your back and side,’ implying position of the dwellings (Tzeltal), ‘younger-brother-older-brother,’ a compound which means all one’s neighbors in a community (Kekchi).

As yourself may require the repetition of the verb in order to show the parallelism, e.g. ‘feel hurt for your neighbors as you feel hurt for yourselves’ (Tzeltal).

For constructions involving comparison see 1.7. In this instance one can sometimes translate as ‘no other commandment surpasses these two commandments’ or ‘these two commandments are really big; no other commandment is big’ (where a paratactic positive-negative statement is the normal construction).

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator's Notes on Mark 12:31

12:31a

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: (God’s Word)
-or-
Here is God’s command that is the next in importance:

Introduce it in a natural way in your language.

12:31b

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.
-or-
People must love their neighbors in the same way that they love themselves.

Love: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible 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 (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
your fellow people

12:31c

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. (Translator’s Reference Translation)

Paragraph 12:32–34

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