Now the Pharisees, when they heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, gathered themselves together. And one of them, a student of the law, having heard Jesus and the Sadducees reasoning together, perceived that He had answered them well. And he asked, trying Him, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law'the first of all?" Jesus answered, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God, the Lord, is one: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength." This is the great and first commandment. And a second like it is this, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." There is no other commandment greater than these. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

And the scribe said to Him, "Well, Teacher, Thou hast said truly that He is One, and there is no other beside side Him; 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 himself, is much more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." And Jesus perceiving that he answered intelligently, said to him, "Thou art not far from the kingdom of God."