Mark 12:28-34

New International Version

The Greatest Commandment^(A)

²⁸One of the teachers of the law^(B) came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

²⁹“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.^[a] ³⁰Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’^[b]^(C) ³¹The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[c]^(D) There is no commandment greater than these.”

³²“Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him.^(E) ³³To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”^(F)

³⁴When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”^(G) And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.^(H)

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Footnotes

Mark 12:29 Or The Lord our God is one Lord
Mark 12:30 Deut. 6:4,5
Mark 12:31 Lev. 19:18

Isaiah 40:18-31

New International Version

¹⁸With whom, then, will you compare God?^(A)
    To what image^(B) will you liken him?
¹⁹As for an idol,^(C) a metalworker casts it,
    and a goldsmith^(D) overlays it with gold^(E)
    and fashions silver chains for it.
²⁰A person too poor to present such an offering
    selects wood^(F) that will not rot;
they look for a skilled worker
    to set up an idol^(G) that will not topple.^(H)

²¹Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?^(I)
Has it not been told^(J) you from the beginning?^(K)
    Have you not understood^(L) since the earth was founded?^(M)
²²He sits enthroned^(N) above the circle of the earth,
    and its people are like grasshoppers.^(O)
He stretches out the heavens^(P) like a canopy,^(Q)
    and spreads them out like a tent^(R) to live in.^(S)
²³He brings princes^(T) to naught
    and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.^(U)
²⁴No sooner are they planted,
    no sooner are they sown,
    no sooner do they take root^(V) in the ground,
than he blows^(W) on them and they wither,^(X)
    and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.^(Y)

²⁵“To whom will you compare me?^(Z)
    Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.^(AA)
²⁶Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:^(AB)
    Who created^(AC) all these?
He who brings out the starry host^(AD) one by one
    and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,^(AE)
    not one of them is missing.^(AF)

²⁷Why do you complain, Jacob?
    Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
    my cause is disregarded by my God”?^(AG)
²⁸Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?^(AH)
The Lord is the everlasting^(AI) God,
    the Creator^(AJ) of the ends of the earth.^(AK)
He will not grow tired or weary,^(AL)
    and his understanding no one can fathom.^(AM)
²⁹He gives strength^(AN) to the weary^(AO)
    and increases the power of the weak.
³⁰Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men^(AP) stumble and fall;^(AQ)
³¹but those who hope^(AR) in the Lord
    will renew their strength.^(AS)
They will soar on wings like eagles;^(AT)
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.^(AU)