Mark 10:18

Christian Standard Bible ®

“Why do you call me good?”

Parallel Translations

King James Version (1611)
And Iesus said vnto him, Why callest thou me good? There is no man good, but one, that is God.

King James Version
And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

English Standard Version
And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

New American Standard Bible
But Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.

New Century Version
Jesus answered, "Why do you call me good? Only God is good.

Amplified Bible
Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is [essentially] good [by nature] except God alone.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.

Legacy Standard Bible
And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.

Berean Standard Bible
"Why do you call Me good?" Jesus replied. "No one is good except God alone.

Contemporary English Version
Jesus replied, "Why do you call me good? Only God is good.

Complete Jewish Bible
Yeshua said to him, "Why are you calling me good? No one is good except God!

Darby Translation
But Jesus said to him, Why callest thou me good? no one is good but one, [that is] God.

Easy-to-Read Version
Jesus answered, "Why do you call me good? Only God is good.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Iesus sayde to him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, euen God.

George Lamsa Translation
Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? There is no one who is good, except the one God.

Good News Translation
"Why do you call me good?" Jesus asked him. "No one is good except God alone.

Lexham English Bible
So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

Literal Translation
But Jesus said to him, Why do you call Me good? No one is good except One, God.

American Standard Version
And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good save one, even God.

Bible in Basic English
And Jesus said to him, Why do you say I am good? no one is good but one, and that is God.

Hebrew Names Version
Yeshua said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except one -- God.

International Standard Version
Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? Nobody is good except for one - God.

Etheridge Translation
Jeshu said to him, Why callest thou me good ? none is good but one, Aloha.

Murdock Translation
Jesus saith to him: Why callest thou me good? There is none good, but one, God.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Iesus sayde vnto hym: Why callest thou me good? There is no man good but one, which is God.

English Revised Version
And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good save one, even God.

World English Bible
Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except one -- God.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
But Jesus saith to him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God.

Weymouth's New Testament
"Why do you call me good?" asked Jesus in reply; "there is no one truly good except One--that is, God.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And Jhesus seide to hym, What seist thou, that Y am good? Ther is no man good, but God hym silf.

Update Bible Version
And Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? none is good save one, [even] God.

Webster's Bible Translation
And Jesus said to him, Why callest thou me good? [there is] none good, but one, [that is] God.

New English Translation
Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

New King James Version
So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.

New Living Translation
"Why do you call me good?" Jesus asked. "Only God is truly good.

New Life Bible
Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? There is only One Who is good. That is God.

New Revised Standard
Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, Jesus, said unto him - Why callest thou me, good? None, is good, save one - God.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And Jesus said to him: Why callest thou me good? None is good but one, that is God.

Revised Standard Version
And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Iesus sayde to him: why callest thou me good? There is no ma good but one which is God.

Young's Literal Translation
And Jesus said to him, `Why me dost thou call good? no one [is] good except One -- God;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But Iesus saide vnto him: Why callest thou me good? There is no man good, but God onely,

Mace New Testament (1729)
Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? there is but one, who is good, that is God.

THE MESSAGE
Jesus said, "Why are you calling me good? No one is good, only God. You know the commandments: Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie, don't cheat, honor your father and mother."

Simplified Cowboy Version
Jesus pulled up and asked, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God himself. Besides that,

Contextual Overview

¹⁷As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ¹⁸“Why do you call me good?”¹⁹You know the commandments: Do not murder; ²⁰He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these from my youth.” ²¹Looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, “You lack one thing: Go, sell all you have and give to the poor, ²²But he was dismayed by this demand, and he went away grieving, because he had many possessions. ²³Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth ²⁴The disciples were astonished at his words. Again Jesus said to them, “Children, ²⁵It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich ²⁶They were even more astonished, saying to one another, “Then who can be saved?”

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Why: Matthew 19:17, Luke 18:19, John 5:41-44, Romans 3:12

that is: 1 Samuel 2:2, Psalms 36:7, Psalms 36:8, Psalms 86:5, Psalms 119:68, James 1:17, 1 John 4:8, 1 John 4:16

Reciprocal: Luke 18:20 - knowest Romans 3:10 - none

Cross-References

Genesis 10:16
as well as the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites,

Genesis 10:17
the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites,

Numbers 34:8
from Mount Hor draw a line to the entrance of Hamath, and the border will reach Zedad.

Joshua 18:22
Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel,

2 Samuel 8:9
When King Toi of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer,

2 Kings 17:24
Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in place of the Israelites in the cities of Samaria. The settlers took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.

2 Kings 17:30
The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima,

2 Chronicles 13:4
Then Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, “Jeroboam and all Israel, hear me.

Isaiah 10:9
Isn’t Calno like Carchemish?Isn’t Hamath like Arpad?Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?

Ezekiel 27:8
The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvadwere your rowers.Your wise men were within you, Tyre;they were your captains.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Jesus said unto him,.... The same as in Mt. 19:17,

:-.

Why callest thou me good? This is said, not as denying that he was good, or as being angry with him for calling him so, but in order to lead this young man to a true knowledge of him, and his goodness, and even of his proper deity:

there is none good, but one, [that is], God; some render it, "but one God", as the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions; and so the words are a proof of the unity of the divine being, and agree with Deuteronomy 6:4, but are not to be understood to the exclusion of the Son and Spirit, who, with the Father, are the one God: nor do these words at all militate against the deity of Christ, or prove that he is not God, as the Jew objects a; seeing this is not to be understood of the person of the Father, in opposition to the Son and Spirit, who are equally good: nor does Christ, in these words, deny himself to be God, but rather tacitly suggests it; since he is good in the same sense in which God is good: in Matthew it is added, "but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments", Matthew 19:17: this Christ said not as his sense, that the way to eternal life lies in keeping the commandments of the law; but he speaks in the language of the Pharisees, and of this man; and his view is, to bring him to a sense of the impossibility of obtaining eternal life by these things, as the sequel shows: wherefore the above Jew b has no reason to confront the followers of Jesus with this passage, as if it was a concession of his, that it is impossible any should be saved without keeping the commands of the law of Moses.

a R. Isaac Chizzuk Emuna, par. 2. c. 19. p. 408. b Ib.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See this passage illustrated in the notes at Matthew 19:16-30.

Mark 10:17

Gone forth - From the place where he had been teaching.

Into the way - Into the road or path on his journey.

Running - Thus showing the intensity with which he desired to know the way of life. Zeal to know the way to be saved is proper, nor is it possible that it should be too intense if well directed. Nothing else is so important, and nothing demands, therefore, so much effort and haste.

Mark 10:19

Defraud not - Do not take away your neighbor’s property by fraud or dishonesty. To “cheat” or “defraud,” supposes a covetous desire of a neighbor’s property, and is usually attended with “falsehood” or “false witness” against a neighbor in obtaining it. It is thus a violation of the ninth and tenth commandments; and our Saviour very properly, therefore, “condensed the two,” and expressed their substance in this - not to defraud. It is, besides, expressly forbidden in Leviticus 19:13; “Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor.”

Mark 10:21

Jesus beholding him, loved him - What occurred afterward showed that the young man did not love the Saviour, or was not a true disciple; so that this expression denotes simply natural affection, or means that Jesus was pleased with his amiableness, his morality, and his “external” regard for the law of God. At the same time, this was entirely consistent with deep sorrow that he would not give his heart to God, and with deep abhorrence of such a love of the world as to blind the mind to the beauty of true religion, and to lead to the rejection of the Messiah and the destruction of the soul.

One thing thou lackest - When the young man came to Jesus he asked him, “What lack I yet?” Matthew 19:20. This “question” Mark has omitted, but he has retained the “answer.” The answer means, there is “one thing” yet wanting. Though all that you have said should be “true,” yet, to make the system complete, or to show that you “really” are disposed to keep the commands of God, go and sell your property. See whether you love “God” more than you do your “wealth.” By doing that you will show that your love of God is supreme; that your obedience is not merely “external” and “formal,” but “sincere” and “real;” the thing now “lacking” will be made up.

Mark 10:24

Children - An expression of affection, perhaps also implying a reproof that their slowness of understanding was like that of children. When they should have seen at once the truth of what he said, they were slow to learn it. It became necessary, therefore, to “repeat” what he had said.

How hard - With how much difficulty.

Mark 10:26

Out of measure - Very much, or exceedingly. The Greek means no more than this.

Mark 10:30

An hundred-fold - One hundred times as much.

In this time - In this life. In the time that he forsakes all.

Houses ... - This cannot be taken literally, as promising a hundred times as many “mothers, sisters,” etc. It means, evidently, that the loss shall be a hundred times “compensated” or made up; or that, in the possession of religion, we have a hundred times the “value” of all we forsake. This consists in the pardon of sin, in the favor of God, in peace of conscience, in support in trials and in death, and in raising up “friends” in the place of those who are left - “spiritual brethren, and sisters, and mothers,” etc. And this corresponds to the experience of all who ever became Christians. At the same time. it is true that godliness is profitable “for all things,” having the promise of the life that is, as well as of that which is to come. See the notes at 1 Timothy 4:8. “The favor of God” is the security for every blessing. Obedience to his law secures industry, temperance, chastity, economy, prudence, health, and the confidence of the world - all indispensable to success in life, and all connected. commonly, with success. Though the wicked “sometimes” prosper, yet the “surest” way of prosperity is to fear God and keep his commandments. Thus will all “needed” blessings descend on us “here,” and “eternal” blessings hereafter.

With persecutions - Persecutions, or the contempt of the world, and bodily sufferings on account of their religion, they “must” meet. Jesus did not conceal this; but he consoled them. He assured them that “amid” these, or perhaps it should be rendered “after” these, they should find friends and comfort. It is well to bear trial if “God” be our Friend. With the promises of the Bible in our hand, we may hail persecutions, and thank God that, amid so many sorrows, he has furnished such abundant consolations.