“All these I have kept from my youth,” he said.
Parallel translations
- WEB He said, “I have observed all these things from my youth up.”
- KJV And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.
- NKJV And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.”
- NASB And he said, “All these things I have kept since my youth.”
- NLT The man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The ruler claims he has kept all these commands from his youth. He is confident in his own righteousness.
Overview
The ruler sincerely believes he has fully obeyed the Law, revealing a shallow self-assessment that overlooks the heart's true demands. His confidence resembles the Pharisee's earlier in the chapter. Jesus will gently expose that outward conformity has not touched the love of money that rules him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Phil 3:6as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to righteousness in the law, faultless.
- Luke 18:11–12The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like the other men—swindlers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.
- Rom 10:2–3For I testify about them that they are zealous for God, but not on the basis of knowledge.
- Luke 15:7In the same way, I tell you that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous ones who do not need to repent.
- Mark 10:20–21“Teacher,” he replied, “all these I have kept from my youth.”
- Matt 19:20–21“All these I have kept,” said the young man. “What do I still lack?”
- Luke 15:29But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I have served you and never disobeyed a commandment of yours. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 18:21 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.