# Matthew 22.34-40

<!-- type: passage | created: 2026-06-01 | updated: 2026-06-01 -->

**Book:** [Matthew](/codex/matthew-the-apostle/) · NASB95

## Immediate context (±2 verses)

**ASV** ([ASV](/codex/asv/))
> 32. <span class="rl-speech">I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.</span> 33. <span class="rl-speech">And when the multitudes heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.</span>
>
> **34. <span class="rl-speech">But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, gathered themselves together.</span> 35. <span class="rl-speech">And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, trying him:</span> 36. Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? 37. And he said unto him, <span class="rl-speech">Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.</span> 38. <span class="rl-speech">This is the great and first commandment.</span> 39. <span class="rl-speech">And a second like unto it is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.</span> 40. <span class="rl-speech">On these two commandments the whole law hangeth, and the prophets.</span>**
>
> 41. Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42. <span class="rl-speech">saying, What think ye of the Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David.</span> (Matthew 22:32-42, ASV)

**WEB** ([WEB](/codex/web/))
> 32. <span class="rl-speech">‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’</span> God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” 33. When the multitudes heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.
>
> **34. But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, gathered themselves together. 35. One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him. 36. “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” 37. Jesus said to him, <span class="rl-speech">“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’</span> 38. <span class="rl-speech">This is the first and great commandment.</span> 39. <span class="rl-speech">A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’</span> 40. <span class="rl-speech">The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”</span>**
>
> 41. Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42. saying, “What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “Of David.” (Matthew 22:32-42, WEB)

**KJV** ([KJV](/codex/kjv/))
> 32. <span class="rl-speech">I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.</span> 33. <span class="rl-speech">And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine.</span>
>
> **34. <span class="rl-speech">But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.</span> 35. <span class="rl-speech">Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,</span> 36. Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37. Jesus said unto him, <span class="rl-speech">Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.</span> 38. <span class="rl-speech">This is the first and great commandment.</span> 39. <span class="rl-speech">And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.</span> 40. <span class="rl-speech">On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.</span>**
>
> 41. While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42. <span class="rl-speech">Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David.</span> (Matthew 22:32-42, KJV)

**YLT** ([YLT](/codex/ylt/))
> 32. <span class="rl-speech">I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not a God of dead men, but of living.'</span> 33. <span class="rl-speech">And having heard, the multitudes were astonished at his teaching;</span>
>
> **34. <span class="rl-speech">and the Pharisees, having heard that he did silence the Sadducees, were gathered together unto him;</span> 35. <span class="rl-speech">and one of them, a lawyer, did question, tempting him, and saying,</span> 36. 'Teacher, which [is] the great command in the Law?' 37. And Jesus said to him, <span class="rl-speech">'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thine understanding</span> 38. <span class="rl-speech">this is a first and great command;</span> 39. <span class="rl-speech">and the second [is] like to it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself;</span> 40. <span class="rl-speech">on these, the two commands, all the law and the prophets do hang.'</span>**
>
> 41. <span class="rl-speech">And the Pharisees having been gathered together, Jesus did question them,</span> 42. <span class="rl-speech">saying, 'What do ye think concerning the Christ? of whom is he son?' They say to him, 'Of David.'</span> (Matthew 22:32-42, YLT)

## Setting

- **Speaker:** _TBD_
- **Audience:** _TBD_
- **Location:** _TBD_
- **Time period:** _TBD_

## Theological reading

_Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added._

## Key words

_Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap._

- _TBD_
- _TBD_
- _TBD_
- _TBD_

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## Quoted in

**Arguments and defeaters:**

- [Argument from Love](/codex/argument-from-love/), via [Matthew 22.37-40](/codex/matthew-22-37-40/)
- [Atheism Cannot Justify Compassion](/codex/atheism-cannot-justify-compassion/), via [Matthew 22.37-40](/codex/matthew-22-37-40/)
- [Atheism Promotes Hatred Lies and Self-Idolatry](/codex/atheism-promotes-hatred-lies-and-self-idolatry/), via [Matthew 22.39](/codex/matthew-22-39/)
- [Biblical Sexual Ethics Objection Defeater](/codex/biblical-sexual-ethics-objection-defeater/), via [Matthew 22.39](/codex/matthew-22-39/)
- [Christians Not Under Mosaic Law](/codex/christians-not-under-mosaic-law/), via [Matthew 22.37-40](/codex/matthew-22-37-40/)
- [Free Will Argument from Love](/codex/free-will-argument-from-love/), via [Matthew 22.37-39](/codex/matthew-22-37-39/), [Matthew 22.39](/codex/matthew-22-39/)
- [Hypatia Murder Objection Defeater](/codex/hypatia-murder-objection-defeater/), via [Matthew 22.39](/codex/matthew-22-39/)
- [Moral Anti-Realism Defeater](/codex/moral-anti-realism-defeater/), via [Matthew 22.37-40](/codex/matthew-22-37-40/)
- [Mosaic Law Binding for True Israelites Objection Defeater](/codex/mosaic-law-binding-for-true-israelites-objection-defeater/), via [Matthew 22.37-40](/codex/matthew-22-37-40/)
- [Ritual Purity Laws Objection Defeater](/codex/ritual-purity-laws-objection-defeater/)
- [Sabbath Breaking Stoning Objection Defeater](/codex/sabbath-breaking-stoning-objection-defeater/)

**Concepts:**

- [Anthropology and Ethics](/codex/anthropology-and-ethics/), via [Matthew 22.37-40](/codex/matthew-22-37-40/)
- [Anti-Muslim Polemic Quality-Control](/codex/anti-muslim-polemic-quality-control/), via [Matthew 22.39](/codex/matthew-22-39/)
- [Atheism](/codex/atheism/), via [Matthew 22.39](/codex/matthew-22-39/)
- [Biblical Love](/codex/biblical-love/), via [Matthew 22.37-39](/codex/matthew-22-37-39/)
- [Christianity](/codex/christianity/), via [Matthew 22.37-40](/codex/matthew-22-37-40/)
- [Critical Thinking Christian Framework](/codex/critical-thinking-christian-framework/), via [Matthew 22.39](/codex/matthew-22-39/)
- [Jesus Said](/codex/jesus-said/), via [Matthew 22](/codex/matthew-22/)
- [Mosaic Law](/codex/mosaic-law/), via [Matthew 22.37-40](/codex/matthew-22-37-40/)
- [Ritual Purity Laws Objection](/codex/ritual-purity-laws-objection/)

**Lexicon:**

- [G0025 - agapao](/codex/g0025-agapao/), via [Matthew 22.37-39](/codex/matthew-22-37-39/)
- [G0026 - agape](/codex/g0026-agape/), via [Matthew 22.37-40](/codex/matthew-22-37-40/)
- [G2588 - kardia](/codex/g2588-kardia/), via [Matthew 22.37](/codex/matthew-22-37/)
- [G3551 - nomos](/codex/g3551-nomos/), via [Matthew 22.36-40](/codex/matthew-22-36-40/)
- [G3563 - nous](/codex/g3563-nous/), via [Matthew 22.37](/codex/matthew-22-37/)
- [H3820 - lev](/codex/h3820-lev/), via [Matthew 22.37](/codex/matthew-22-37/)
- [H3824 - lebab](/codex/h3824-lebab/), via [Matthew 22.37](/codex/matthew-22-37/)
- [H8451 - torah](/codex/h8451-torah/), via [Matthew 22.36-40](/codex/matthew-22-36-40/)

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_Scripture quotations taken from the **New American Standard Bible®** (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by **The Lockman Foundation**. Used by permission. All rights reserved. [www.lockman.org](https://www.lockman.org)_

## Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the **most literal English translations available** (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the **public domain in the United States**, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

- **[ASV](/codex/asv/)** (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
- **[WEB](/codex/web/)** (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
- **[KJV](/codex/kjv/)** (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
- **[YLT](/codex/ylt/)** (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See [Bibles](/codex/bibles/) for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.