ISB ~ Mark 12 v29 - 31

Jesus summarizes the teaching of the entire Old Covenant in two commandments.

• The greatest is the Shema (Hebrew for “hear!”), taken from Deut 6:4-5. The Israelites considered this passage a summary or creed of their faith in the one God of the universe. The second is taken from Lev 19:18. Together these injunctions to love God and one’s neighbor underlie all 613 precepts of the Mosaic Law and especially the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:2-17; Deut 5:6-21). The distillation of Yahweh’s revealed Law into two commandments was prefigured by the two stone tablets of the Decalogue (Ex 34:1).