Scriptures Plain & Simple (Mark 12:28-34)

Barclay Newman, a translator on the teams for both the Good News Bible and the Contemporary English Version, translated passages of the New Testament into English and published them in 2014, “in a publication brief enough to be non-threatening, yet long enough to be taken seriously, and interesting enough to appeal to believers and un-believers alike.” The following is the translation of Mark 12:28-34:

Jesus had just frustrated a group of theologians,
when a noted biblical scholar asked him,
       “What’s the most important teaching in the Bible?”

Jesus answered, “The Bible itself says,
       Love God with all your heart!
And the Bible also says,
       Love others as much as you love yourself!
No teachings are more important than these.”

“Teacher,” answered the man, “you’re certainly right.
We must love the one and only God with all our heart,
       and love others as much as we love ourselves.
To obey these two commands is more important
       than offering all kinds of gifts to God.”

Jesus realized the depth of the man’s answer and said,
       “You already have one foot in the Ultimate Kingdom.”

After this, no one dared put Jesus to the test.

Translation commentary on Mark 12:32

Text:

After the words heis estin ‘he is one,’ Textus Receptus adds theos ‘God,’ which is omitted by all modern editions of the Greek text.

Exegesis:

kalōs ‘well,’ ‘rightly’: here used absolutely, as an exclamation. ‘Quite right’; ‘That is true’; ‘Well said’ (cf. Taylor, Translator’s New Testament).

didaskale (cf. 4.38) ‘teacher.’

ep’ alētheias (cf. 12.14) ‘truly,’ ‘in accordance with truth.’

heis estin kai ouk estin allos plēn autou ‘he is one and there is no other except him’: this statement represents two O.T. passages, Deut. 6.4 (quoted in v. 29) and Deut. 4.35. This may be taken to represent an interpretation of the saying ‘The Lord (i.e. Yahweh) is One’ as meaning that only he is God, and no other.

plēn (only here in Mark) is an adverb ‘only,’ ‘except that’: used as an “improper” preposition with the genitive, as here, it means ‘except.’

Translation:

For scribe see 1.22.

Because of other third person referents it may be necessary to employ ‘Jesus’ rather than ‘him’ as the object of ‘said.’

For Teacher see 2.13, but compare the usage of 12.19.

He is one may be difficult to translate in this form, primarily because of the indefinite third person reference, in which case one may need to translate as ‘God is one.’ However, the use of ‘one’ in the predicate may provide little or no meaning, and hence one may be forced to adjust this to a more equivalent expression ‘there is only one God,’ which is the essential meaning of the passage.

No other but he is equivalent in some languages to saying ‘and no other god exists.’

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 12:32

12:32a

“Right, Teacher,” the scribe replied: The scribe recognized that Jesus had answered his question well.

Right: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Right is literally, “Good!” The word means “fine, good, excellent.” It expresses agreement and satisfaction with Jesus’ answer. Use a natural expression in your language.

Teacher: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Teacher was a polite title for a Jewish religious leader. It was a title of respect for a Jewish man who had authority to teach the things about God. In some languages the appropriate way to address a religious teacher may be:

Sir Teacher
-or-
Sir
-or-
Master

Be careful not to use a term that can refer only to a school teacher.

the scribe replied: In Greek the words that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the scribe replied occur at the beginning of this verse. They introduce the man’s response to Jesus. Put the information in a natural place in your language.

the scribe: The phrase the scribe refers to the scribe who was first mentioned in 12:28. Refer back to him here in a natural way in your language.

12:32b–c

You have stated correctly that God is One: The scribe indicated here that Jesus was correct when he said that there is only one God. The teacher recognized that this statement agreed with what is written in God’s law.

God is One and there is no other but Him: In Greek this statement is literally, “there is one and there is not another except him.” Here the scribe referred back to the verse that Jesus quoted in 12:29b. He expressed the statement in two parts that are connected with “and” in English. The Good News Bible has:

only the Lord is God

and…there is no other god but he.

The two parts of this statement have the same meaning. (The more literal versions (that read in 12:32b “he is one” or “God is one”) stay close to the structure of the Greek and could be interpreted either as “God is one God, not many” or as “God is the only God.” But the contemporary versions that translate in such a way as to make the meaning clearer all support the meaning here of “God is the only God.”) The meaning is repeated to emphasize that God is the only one like himself. There is no one else who is worthy to be worshiped as God.

there is no other but Him: The scribe may have been quoting Deuteronomy 4:35 in this part of the verse.

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