but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Parallel Translations
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but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
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verely one is nedfull. Mary hath chosen her that good parte which shall not be taken awaye from her.
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But one thing is needefull, Marie hath chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
Cross-references (29)
Passages linked to Luke 10:42 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 27:4 One thing I have asked of Yahweh, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in Yahweh’s house all the days of my life, to see Yahweh’s beauty, and to inquire in his temple.
- Psalms 16:5-6 Yahweh assigned my portion and my cup. You made my lot secure. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Yes, I have a good inheritance.
- John 10:27-28 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
- John 4:14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
- Psalms 73:25 Whom do I have in heaven? There is no one on earth whom I desire besides you.
- John 5:24 “Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
- Luke 18:22 When Jesus heard these things, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have, and distribute it to the poor. Then you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
- Psalms 17:15 As for me, I shall see your face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with seeing your form.
- Psalms 142:5 I cried to you, Yahweh. I said, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”
- John 17:3 This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
- Mark 8:36 For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life?
- Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your descendants,
- Psalms 119:30 I have chosen the way of truth. I have set your ordinances before me.
- 1 John 5:11-12 The testimony is this, that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has the life. He who doesn’t have God’s Son doesn’t have the life.
- Romans 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from God’s love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- Luke 12:20 “But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’
- Luke 12:33 Sell that which you have, and give gifts to the needy. Make for yourselves purses which don’t grow old, a treasure in the heavens that doesn’t fail, where no thief approaches, neither moth destroys.
- Colossians 3:3-4 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, our life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with him in glory.
- Psalms 119:111 I have taken your testimonies as a heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.
- Ecclesiastes 12:13 This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.
- Luke 8:18 Be careful therefore how you hear. For whoever has, to him will be given; and whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he thinks he has.”
- 1 Peter 1:4-5 to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that doesn’t fade away, reserved in Heaven for you, who by the power of God are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
- Joshua 24:15 If it seems evil to you to serve Yahweh, choose today whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh.”
- 1 Corinthians 13:3 If I give away all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don’t have love, it profits me nothing.
- Luke 16:25 “But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in the same way, bad things. But here he is now comforted, and you are in anguish.
- Colossians 2:10-19 and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us. He has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. Having stripped the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no one therefore judge you in eating, or in drinking, or with respect to a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day, which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s. Let no one rob you of your prize by self-abasement and worshiping of the angels, dwelling in the things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding firmly to the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and ligaments, grows with God’s growth.
- Joshua 24:22 Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen Yahweh yourselves, to serve him.” They said, “We are witnesses.”
- Psalms 119:173 Let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts.
- Galatians 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath…
42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
Ver. 42. But one thing is necessary] That bonum hominis, good of humanity, Mic 6:8, that totum hominis, Ecc 12:13; the happiness, the whole of a man, viz. to hear the word of God and keep it. The original hath it thus, there is need of one thing; that is, say some, of one dish only: but the other sense is the better.
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That good part] Non tu malam, sed illa meliorem, saith Augustine. Thou hast done well, but she better.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Mary hath chosen the good part - To save…
Mary hath chosen the good part - To save her soul. Reader, hast thou?
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 42. One thing is needful] This is the…
Verse 42. One thing is needful] This is the end of the sentence, according to Bengel. "Now Mary hath chosen, c.," begins a new one. One single dish, the simplest and plainest possible, is such as best suits me and my disciples, whose meat and drink it is to do the will of our heavenly Father.
Mary hath chosen that good part] That is, of hearing my word, of which she shall not be deprived it being at present of infinitely greater importance to attend to my teaching than to attend to any domestic concerns. While thou art busily employed in providing that portion of perishing food for perishing bodies, Mary has chosen that spiritual portion which endures for ever, and which shall not be taken away from her; therefore I cannot command her to leave her present employment, and go and help thee to bring forward a variety of matters, which are by no means necessary at this time. Our Lord both preached and practised the doctrine of self-denial; he and his disciples were contented with a little, and sumptuous entertainments are condemned by the spirit and design of his Gospel.
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Multos morbos, multa fercula fecerunt. SENECA.
"Many dishes, many diseases."
Bishop PEARCE remarks that the word χρεια, needful, is used after the same manner for want of food in Mr 2:25, where of David it is said, χρειαν εσχε, he had need, when it means he was hungry. I believe the above to be the true meaning of these verses; but others have taken a somewhat different sense from them: especially when they suppose that by one thing needful our Lord means the salvation of the soul. To attend to this is undoubtedly the most necessary of all things, and should be the first, the grand concern of every human spirit; but in my opinion it is not the meaning of the words in the text. It is only prejudice from the common use of the words in this way that could make such an interpretation tolerable. KYPKE in loc. has several methods of interpreting this passage. Many eminent commentators, both ancient and modern, consider the text in the same way I have done. But this is termed by some, "a frigid method of explaining the passage;" well, so let it be; but he that fears God will sacrifice every thing at the shrine of TRUTH. I believe this alone to be the true meaning of the place, and I dare not give it any other. Bengelius points the whole passage thus: Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful. Now, Mary hath chosen that good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.
THAT the salvation of the soul is the first and greatest of all human concerns, every man must acknowledge who feels that he has a soul; and in humility of mind to hear Jesus, is the only way of getting that acquaintance with the doctrine of salvation without which how can he be saved? While we fancy we are in no spiritual necessity, the things which concern salvation will not appear needful to us! A conviction that we are spiritually poor must precede our application for the true riches. The whole, says Christ, need not the physician, but those who are sick. Martha has been blamed, by incautious people, as possessing a carnal, worldly spirit; and as Mary Magdalene has been made the chief of all prostitutes, so has Martha of all the worldly-minded. Through her affectionate respect for our Lord and his disciples, and through that alone, she erred. There is not the slightest intimation that she was either worldly-minded or careless about her soul; nor was she at this time improperly employed, only so far as the abundance of her affection led her to make a greater provision than was necessary on the occasion. Nor are our Lord's words to be understood as a reproof; they are a kind and tender expostulation, tending to vindicate the conduct of Mary. The utmost that can be said on the subject is, Martha was well employed, but Mary, on this occasion, better.
If we attend to the punctuation of the original text, the subject will appear more plain. I shall transcribe the text from Bengel's own edition, Stutgardiae, 1734, 12mo. Luke 10:41; Luke 10:42, v. 41. αποκριθεις δε ειπεν αυτῃ ὁ Ιησους, Μαρθα, Μαρθα, μεριμνᾳς και τυρβαζῃ περι πολλα· ἑνος δε εϚι χρεια. Μαρια δε την αγαθην μεριδα εξελεξατο, ἡτις ουκ αφαιρεθησεται απ' αυτης. "Then Jesus answered her, Martha, Martha, thou art anxiously careful and disturbed about many things; but one thing is necessary. But Mary hath chosen that good portion which shall not be taken away from her." I have shown, in my notes, that Martha was making a greater provision for her guests than was needful; that it was in consequence of this that she required her sister's help; that Jesus tenderly reproved her for her unnecessary anxiety and superabundant provision, and asserted that but one thing, call it course or dish, was necessary on the occasion, yet she had provided many; and that this needless provision was the cause of the anxiety and extra labour. Then, taking occasion, from the circumstances of the case, to vindicate Mary's conduct, and to direct his loving reproof more pointedly at Martha's heart, he adds, Mary hath chosen a good portion; that is, she avails herself of the present opportunity to hear my teaching, and inform herself in those things which are essential to the salvation of the soul. I cannot, therefore, order her to leave my teaching, to serve in what I know to be an unnecessary service, however kindly designed: for it would be as unjust to deprive her of this bread of life, after which she so earnestly hungers, as to deprive thee, or thy guests, of that measure of common food necessary to sustain life. All earthly portions are perishing: "Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats, but God will destroy both it and then; but the work of the Lord abideth for ever;" her portion, therefore, shall not be taken away from her. This is my view of the whole subject; and all the terms in the original, not only countenance this meaning, but necessarily require it. The words, one thing is needful, on which we lay so much stress, are wanting in some of the most ancient MSS., and are omitted by some of the fathers, who quote all the rest of the passage: a plain proof that the meaning which we take out of them was not thought of in very ancient times; and in other MSS., versions, and fathers, there is an unusual variety of readings where even the thing, or something like it, is retained. Some have it thus; Martha, Martha, thou labourest much, and yet a little is sufficient, yea, one thing only. Others: And only one thing is required. Others: Thou art curious and embarrassed about many things, when that which is needful is very small. Others: But here there need only a few things. Others: But a few things, or one only, is necessary. Now these are the readings of almost all the ancient versions; and we plainly perceive, by them, that what we term the one thing needful, is not understood by one of them as referring to the salvation of the soul, but to the provision THEN to be made. It would be easy to multiply authorities, but I spare both my own time and that of my reader. In short, I wonder how the present most exceptionable mode of interpretation ever obtained; as having no countenance in the text, ancient MSS. or versions, and as being false in itself; for even Christ himself could not say, that sitting at his feet, and hearing his word, was the ONE thing NEEDFUL. Repentance, faith, prayer, obedience, and a thousand other things are necessary to our salvation, besides merely hearing the doctrines of Christ, even with the humblest heart.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain But one thing is needful - That is, religion,…
But one thing is needful - That is, religion, or piety. This is eminently and especially needful. Other things are of little importance. This should be secured first, and then all other things will be added. See 1Ti 4:8; Mat 6:33.
That good part - The portion of the gospel; the love of God, and an interest in his kingdom. She had chosen to be a Christian, and to give up her time and affections to God.
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Which shall not be taken away - God will not take away his grace from his people, neither shall any man pluck them out of his hand, Joh 10:28-29.
From this interesting narrative we learn:
1. That the cares of this life are dangerous, even when they seem to be most lawful and commendable. Nothing of a worldly nature could have been more proper than to provide for the Lord Jesus and supply his wants. Yet even “for this,” because it too much engrossed her mind, the Lord Jesus gently reproved Martha. So a care for our families may be the means of our neglecting religion and losing our souls.
2. It is of more importance to attend to the instructions of the Lord Jesus than to be engaged in the affairs of the world. The one will abide forever; the other will be but for a little time.
3. There “are” times when it is proper to suspend worldly employments, and to attend to the affairs of the soul. It “was” proper for Mary to do it. It would have been proper for Martha to have done it. It “is” proper for all on the Sabbath and at other occasional seasons - seasons of prayer and for searching the word of God - to suspend worldly concerns and to attend to religion.
4. If attention to religion be omitted at “the proper time,” it will always be omitted. If Mary had neglected to hear Jesus “then,” she might never have heard him.
5. Piety is the chief thing needed. Other things will perish. We shall soon die. All that we can gain we must leave. But the “soul” will live. There is a judgment-seat; there is a heaven; there is a hell; and “all” that is needful to prepare us to die, and to make us happy forever, is to be a friend of Jesus, and to listen to his teaching.
6. Piety is the chief ornament in a female. It sweetens every other virtue; adorns every other grace; gives new loveliness to the tenderness, mildness, and grace of the female character. Nothing is more lovely than a female sitting at the feet of the meek and lowly Jesus, like Mary; nothing more unlovely than entire absorption in the affairs of the world, like Martha. The most lovely female is she who has most of the spirit of Jesus; the least amiable, she who neglects her soul - who is proud, frivolous, thoughtless, envious, and unlike the meek and lowly Redeemer. At his feet are peace, purity, joy. Everywhere else an alluring and wicked world steals the affections and renders us vain, frivolous, wicked, proud, and unwilling to die.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain One thing is necessary. Some think that Christ’s meaning…
One thing is necessary. Some think that Christ’s meaning was, that Martha was preparing many dishes, when one was sufficient. But others, that this one thing necessary, was to learn, and comply with the will of God; which Mary was employed about. (Witham)
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George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain one thing, &c.--The idea of "Short work and little…
one thing, &c.--The idea of "Short work and little of it suffices for Me" is not so much the lower sense of these weighty words, as supposed in them, as the basis of something far loftier than any precept on economy. Underneath that idea is couched another, as to the littleness both of elaborate preparation for the present life and of that life itself, compared with another.
chosen the good part--not in the general sense of Moses' choice (Heb 11:25), and Joshua's (Jos 24:15), and David's (Psa 119:30); that is, of good in opposition to bad; but, of two good ways of serving and pleasing the Lord, choosing the better. Wherein, then, was Mary's better than Martha's? Hear what follows.
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not be taken away--Martha's choice would be taken from her, for her services would die with her; Mary's never, being spiritual and eternal. Both were true-hearted disciples, but the one was absorbed in the higher, the other in the lower of two ways of honoring their common Lord. Yet neither despised, or would willingly neglect, the other's occupation. The one represents the contemplative, the other the active style of the Christian character. A Church full of Marys would perhaps be as great an evil as a Church full of Marthas. Both are needed, each to be the complement of the other.
Next: Luke Chapter 11
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 42. One thing is needful—That is, one thing is…
42. One thing is needful—That is, one thing is a necessity. Your mind, in attending to a multiplicity, is forgetting the great one. These are desirable; that is indispensable. To make Jesus here say, as some commentators do, that but one dish instead of many is needful, is scarce less than burlesque; and such an interpretation should be carried out by making Mary’s good part signify the best bit in the dish! How unjustifiable is this low interpretation, (ancient though it be,) is clear from this fact, that neither dish nor food has been once named in the narrative. The many to which the one thing is contrasted does not indicate either. It is properly supplemented by our translators with the word things; as including the total multiplicity of her household cares. Against this distracting earthly many our Lord solemnly opposes the heavenly but forgotten one.
The term needful in the Greek is a noun—necessity. What profit earthly activities, pre-eminences, gains, and enjoyments, if we miss that one absolute necessity, without which our all is lost!
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Chosen that good part—Our Lord does not imply that Martha has not so chosen; he only asserts that Mary has. His purpose is not accusation; but, after gentle reproof of the accuser, to vindicate the accused. In preference to the distracting many things, she has chosen the one good part, a share in the blessed eternal things.
Chosen—It was the act of her own free will. Neither the good part, nor the choice, nor the will, was imposed upon her by any arbitrary decree or purpose of God, or any necessity of her own inward nature. As amiable natures as she, with as good opportunities, doubtless, rejected the Saviour; as with all her loveliness and opportunities it was in her power to do. And, hereby, we do not depreciate the grace of God, and the operations of the Spirit, or the fullness or the freeness of the Saviour’s atonement; all which enabled and offered, but never imposed or necessitated, her acceptance or her salvation.
Not be taken away from her—As her free choice, through God’s grace, accepted and made that good part her own, so that same free choice can ever retain it. As God never will take it from her, so neither men nor devils ever can. She may renounce and throw it away; but not all the powers of evil can ever take it from her.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (42) But one thing is needful.—Some of the better…
(42) But one thing is needful.—Some of the better MSS. present a singular various-reading, There is need of few things, or of one only. It is obvious that this might be taken either literally or spiritually. They might mean (1) that He who spoke, and the others who were coming, needed not the many things about which Martha was troubled, but a few only, or even but a single dish, to supply their wants; or (2) that the true life of men needed but a few things, such as faith, obedience, the fear of God, or even but one only, the devout and intent love which Mary was then showing. The latter interpretation is clearly most in harmony with our Lord’s usual teaching, though the former has something like a parallel in the teaching of Luk_10:7 of this very chapter. It is not improbable that our Lord designedly used words which had an outer and an inner meaning, the latter intended chiefly for those who “had ears to hear.” There is a singular coincidence between the words here spoken to Martha and those addressed to the young ruler (“one thing thou lackest”), whom we have seen reason to identify with her brother. (See Note on Mat_19:16.) The omission of “few things” in the received text, may have originated in the wish to give an exclusive prominence to the higher meaning.
Mary hath chosen that good part.—The Greek noun is very nearly the same as that which the younger son, in Luk_15:12, uses for “the portion of goods,” the good part or portion here being nothing less than the eternal life which is the gift of God. Here too we may trace something approaching to a half-playful mingling of the higher and lower meanings of the word which was used in the Greek version of the Old Testament at once for Benjamin’s mess, i.e., portion of food (Gen_43:34), and for God as the “portion” of His people (Psa_73:26). Even on the assumption that our Lord spoke in Aramaic, and not in Greek, a like play upon the word would have been equally possible.
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The two sisters have come to be regarded as the representatives respectively of the active and the contemplative forms of the religious life, and there is, of course, a certain measure of truth in this view. On the other hand, however, it must be remembered that Martha’s activity, with its manifold distractions, was not Christian activity, and that Mary’s contemplation passed, when the time came for it, as in Joh_12:3, into full and intense activity. The contrast is rather that between singleness of heart and the character which St. James describes as “double-minded” (Jas_1:8), i.e., divided in its affections.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain But one thing is needful. Jesus had been saying…
But one thing is needful. Jesus had been saying to this kindly but over-fussy friend, "Are you not too anxious about these household cares of yours?" and then he adds, "See, only one thing is really needful." Now, what is the exact meaning of these last words? Some expositors have taken the expression to mean "a single dish is sufficient" for my entertainment; so much careful, anxious thought is thrown away. A curious variation in the reading occurs here in some, though not in all the oldest, authorities. It seems as though some of the early copyists of the text of the Gospel were wishful to make the words, which they possibly understood as a lesson of the Master"s on simplicity of food, clearer and more emphatic. This other reading is, "There is need of few things, or of one only." In other words, "Few things are enough for me and my friends to sit down to, or even one dish only." The teaching contained in ver. 7 gives a little colour to this quaint interpretation of the Master"s words here, which sees in them a general warning against taking thought for the pleasures of the table. But, on the whole, the old reading contained in the received text is preferable, and the old interpretation, too, viz. that the true life of man needs but one thing, or, if the other reading be adopted, needs but few things. If we must specify the one, we would call it" love," or "charity." So John, we know, in his old days, summed up all man"s duties in this "love." If, on the other hand, we are asked to name the few, then we would add to love, faith and hope. The parable of the "good Samaritan," that practical lesson of the love or charity the Master was alluding to, had just been spoken; it was Still, we may reverently assume, fresh in the Divine Teacher"s mind. And Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. And Mary, his dear Bethany friend, had made her happy choice of the one thing, that love or charity which never fails; or, perchance, had made her choice of the few things needful (if we prefer the longer reading of those old manuscripts we have spoken of) the few things would then mean that faith, hope, and charity which abide both now and in the ages of ages yet to come!
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 10:42 There is only one thing worth being concerned…
10:42 There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it: Jesus’ words were shocking. Women were expected to serve domestically and were forbidden to learn as disciples from a rabbi. Jesus validated Mary’s desire to be his disciple.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.