Old Testament · Law

Deuteronomy 6

Heart and Soul

Hear, O Israel. Love the Lord with everything. Teach your children. Bind it on your hands. Write it on your doorposts. Let it become your life.

King James Version BSB KJV
Read the commentary What this chapter means, the background behind it, and why it still matters

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1Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it:

2That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.

3Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.

4Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

5And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

6And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:

7And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

8And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

9And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

10And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,

11And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;

12Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

13Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.

14Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you;

15(For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.

16Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.

17Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.

18And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers,

19To cast out all thine enemies from before thee, as the LORD hath spoken.

20And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you?

21Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand:

22And the LORD shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes:

23And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers.

24And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.

25And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.

Commentary

Deuteronomy 6, explained

What Deuteronomy 6 is saying

This chapter contains the Shema—'Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one'—the foundational confession of Israelite faith. Moses commands that God's words be taught constantly to children, bound as symbols, and written on doorposts. He warns that prosperity in the promised land will tempt them to forget the God who provided it.

The background behind it

The Shema (v. 4) has been recited daily in Jewish liturgy for millennia and is the text Jesus identifies as the greatest commandment (Mark 12:29–30). The tefillin (phylacteries) and mezuzot traditions derive directly from the literal interpretation of verses 8–9.

Themes running underneath

The command to love God with 'all your heart, soul, and strength' defines the covenant relationship as fundamentally relational, not merely legal. The fear of prosperity-induced amnesia is a central Deuteronomic concern—abundance is more spiritually dangerous than scarcity.

Why it still matters

The Shema remains the heartbeat of biblical faith: one God, total love, constant remembrance. The warning about forgetting God in times of prosperity is disturbingly relevant to affluent societies—comfort can erode devotion more effectively than persecution.

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