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Mark 12:33
ESV And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
NIV To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.'
NASB and to love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.'
CSB And to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, is far more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices."
NLT And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.'
KJV And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

What does Mark 12:33 mean?

Whether by revelation or affirmation, the scribe has succinctly stated what Jesus has been trying to tell the Pharisees for three years: ritual means nothing without obedience of the heart. The scribes have spent centuries adding to the Mosaic law, trying to create a hedge so that the people will obey God and God won't punish the nation. Here, the scribe not only ignores those extra laws, he dismisses the ceremonial law as irrelevant compared to the ethical law of know God, loving Him, and loving others.

Here, a "burnt offering" refers to the offerings the Israelites give that are wholly consumed (Leviticus 1). A "sacrifice" is something the offeror, priests, and/or the priests families eat (Leviticus 2; 7).

The supremacy of love to offerings and sacrifices is well established in the Old Testament. God established the sacrificial system to cover the sins of the Israelites and allow them a ceremonial outlet with which to show their thankfulness. But the sacrificial system would be all but unnecessary if they just obeyed the law (1 Samuel 15:22; Proverbs 21:3), and the ultimate point of the Law is to show how they are to love God and others (Hosea 6:6).

This message is even more important to Mark's Jewish readers who follow Jesus in the context of their native Judaism. Within ten years of the completion of the Gospel, Jerusalem is under siege. Shortly after, the city is destroyed and the temple torn apart, stone by stone (Mark 13:2). Since that time, Jews have not been able to sacrifice at the temple and have no way to fulfill the Mosaic law except through love (Romans 13:8, 10).
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