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.’”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — An expert in the law answers Jesus's challenge ("How do you read it?") by quoting the Shema and a second command, after which Jesus affirms him and adds "Do this and you will live" (Luke 10:28).

The words — ἀγαπήσεις (agapēseis) is future active indicative, literally "you will love," rendering a command in future form rather than the expected imperative. This grammatical choice makes the obligation forward-looking and inescapable rather than a one-time declaration.

The thread — The first clause is Deuteronomy 6:5; the Synoptic parallels appear at Matthew 22:37 and Mark 12:30, where the same fourfold totality (heart, soul, mind/strength) is repeated.

Why it lands — The verse demands undivided action (future tense: you will do this), not a feeling, and the second command ties the neighbor to the self as the measure. Jesus's reply in the next verse makes the stake explicit: this is the condition of life, not merely a moral preference.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

Cross-references

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.’
Matthew 22:37 Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
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.
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.”
Leviticus 19:18 Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
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.
James 2:8 If you really fulfill the royal law stated in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.
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 God with all your heart and with all your soul,
Mark 12:33 and to love Him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. This is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
1 John 3:18 Little children, let us love not in word and speech, but in action and truth.