Mark 12:31 (DBY)

Passage

And a second like it [is] this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is not another commandment greater than these.

Nearby Context

Mark 12:29 And Jesus answered him, [The] first commandment of all [is], Hear, Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord;

Mark 12:30 and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thine understanding, and with all thy strength. This is [the] first commandment.

Mark 12:31 And a second like it [is] this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is not another commandment greater than these.

Mark 12:32 And the scribe said to him, Right, teacher; thou hast spoken according to [the] truth. For he is one, and there is none other besides him;

Mark 12:33 and to love him with all the heart, and with all the intelligence, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbour as one's self, is more than all the burnt-offerings and sacrifices.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "second", "like", "thou", "shalt", "love", "neighbour", "thyself", and "another". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "second" and "like", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 30's "and thou shalt love the Lord thy..." into verse 32's "And the scribe said to him Right...", so "second" and "like" belong inside that flow. In Mark context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "second" and "like" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.