Matthew 22:37
in Matthew 22Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
KJV
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
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This verse in Matthew 22
Commentary
2 notes on this verseTherefore the first commandment teaches every kind of godliness. For to love God with the whole heart is the cause of every good. The second commandment includes the righteous acts we do toward other people. The first commandment prepares the way for the second and in turn is established by the second. For the person who is grounded in the love of God clearly also loves his neighbor in all things himself. The kind of person who fulfills these two commandments experiences all the commandments.
This site's exposition
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart
on Matthew 22:37-40
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, the Shema Israel recited daily by every observant Jew, and Jesus names it first and great without qualification. The second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, joins Leviticus 19:18 to the first as its inseparable partner rather than a lesser add-on, and on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets states plainly that every other command is an application of these two, not a third body of separate rules. The bench reads Jesus here summarizing rather than replacing the law, the same righteousness thread that runs from the Sermon's fulfil all righteousness through the whole book.
How the passage was read
On Matthew 22:23-46On Matthew 22:23-46
The Sadducees' riddle, the greatest commandment, and David's son
The Sadducees, the priestly party that denied the resurrection of the dead (Acts 23:8), build their riddle on levirate marriage: the Torah's command that a man marry his brother's childless widow (Deuteronomy 25:5-10, the law behind Ruth; the Mishnah's tractate Yevamot regulates its cases). Seven brothers, one widow: “in the resurrection whose wife shall she be?” Jesus answers them from the Torah alone, the canon they granted: “I AM the God of Abraham” (Exodus 3:6), the living God of living men. Note where the parties stand: the Pharisees affirmed the resurrection so strongly that the Mishnah excludes from the world to come anyone who says the resurrection is not from the Torah (Sanhedrin 10:1). On this doctrine the Pharisaic tradition and Christian confession stand together against the Sadducees.
The lawyer's question that follows, “which is the great commandment?”, belongs to a genuine rabbinic genre: the search for a kelal gadol, a great governing principle. Hillel, asked to teach the whole Torah while a challenger stood on one foot, answered “what is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow; that is the whole Torah, the rest is commentary; go and learn” (Shabbat 31a); Rabbi Akiva later called “love your neighbor as yourself” the all-embracing principle of the Torah (Sifra on Leviticus 19:18). Jesus' first answer IS the Shema, the confession every observant Jew prays morning and evening (Deuteronomy 6:4-5), joined to Leviticus 19:18. The materials are the tradition's own; what is His alone is the authority with which He joins and ranks them, and the counter-question He then asks from Psalm 110: whose son is the Messiah?
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Sources: Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1 (the resurrection as core doctrine) · Shabbat 31a (Babylonian Talmud, Hillel on one foot) · Sifra, Kedoshim 4:12 (Akiva's great principle) · Mishnah Yevamot 1:1 (the levirate tractate)
The words behind it
26 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ὁ | ho | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| δὲ | de | And | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| ἔφη | ephe | was saying | G5346 → | 66 times |
| αὐτῷ· | auto | to him; | G846 → | 5565 times |
| ἀγαπήσεις | agapeseis | You will love | G25 → | 143 times |
| κύριον | kurion | [the] Lord | G2962 → | 711 times |
| τὸν | ton | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| θεόν | theon | God | G2316 → | 1312 times |
| σου | sou | of you | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| ἐν | en | with | G1722 → | 2738 times |
| ὅλῃ | hole | all | G3650 → | 109 times |
| τῇ | tea | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| καρδίᾳ | kardia | heart | G2588 → | 156 times |
| σου | sou | of you | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ἐν | en | with | G1722 → | 2738 times |
| ὅλῃ | hole | all | G3650 → | 109 times |
| τῇ | tea | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ψυχῇ | psuchea | soul | G5590 → | 103 times |
| σου | sou | of you | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ἐν | en | with | G1722 → | 2738 times |
| ὅλῃ | hole | all | G3650 → | 109 times |
| τῇ | tea | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| διανοίᾳ | dianoia | mind | G1271 → | |
| σου. | sou | of you.’ | G4771 → | 2973 times |
ὁ<the>
hoG3588 →19766 times
δὲAnd
deG1161 →2765 times
ἔφηwas saying
epheG5346 →66 times
αὐτῷ·to him;
autoG846 →5565 times
ἀγαπήσειςYou will love
agapeseisG25 →143 times
κύριον[the] Lord
kurionG2962 →711 times
τὸνthe
tonG3588 →19766 times
θεόνGod
theonG2316 →1312 times
σουof you
souG4771 →2973 times
ἐνwith
enG1722 →2738 times
ὅλῃall
holeG3650 →109 times
τῇthe
teaG3588 →19766 times
καρδίᾳheart
kardiaG2588 →156 times
σουof you
souG4771 →2973 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ἐνwith
enG1722 →2738 times
ὅλῃall
holeG3650 →109 times
τῇthe
teaG3588 →19766 times
ψυχῇsoul
psucheaG5590 →103 times
σουof you
souG4771 →2973 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ἐνwith
enG1722 →2738 times
ὅλῃall
holeG3650 →109 times
τῇthe
teaG3588 →19766 times
διανοίᾳmind
dianoiaG1271 →
σου.of you.’
souG4771 →2973 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Deuteronomy 6:5And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
it leads to
- Luke 10:27
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Mark 12:30
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
- Deuteronomy 10:12
And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your…
- Deuteronomy 30:6
The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love Him with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.
- Luke 10:27
Through
Luke 10:27He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 6:5
And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Mark 12:30–31
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
- Matthew 22:37–40
Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
- Romans 13:9
The commandments “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and any other commandments, are summed up in this one decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
- Deuteronomy 6:5
Where this verse is studied
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About Matthew
This page draws on Cyril of Alexandria, FRAGMENT 251; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.