Deuteronômio 6

ARC · Chapter 6/34

1Estes, pois, são os mandamentos, os estatutos e os juizos que mandou o Senhor vosso Deus para se vos ensinar, para que os fizesseis na terra a que passaes a possuir;

2Para que temas ao Senhor teu Deus, e guardes todos os seus estatutos e mandamentos, que eu te ordeno, tu, e teu filho, e o filho de teu filho, todos os dias da tua vida, e que teus dias sejam prolongados.

3Ouve pois, ó Israel, e attenta que os guardes, para que bem te succeda, e muito te multipliques, como te disse o Senhor Deus de teus paes, na terra que mana leite e mel.

4Ouve, Israel, o Senhor nosso Deus é o unico Senhor.

5Amarás pois o Senhor teu Deus de todo o teu coração, e de toda a tua alma, e de todo o teu poder.

6E estas palavras, que hoje te ordeno, estarão no teu coração;

7E as intimarás a teus filhos, e d'ellas fallarás assentado em tua casa, e andando pelo caminho, e deitando-te e levantando-te.

8Tambem as atarás por signal na tua mão, e te serão por testeiras entre os teus olhos.

9E as escreverás nos umbraes de tua casa, e nas tuas portas.

10Havendo-te pois o Senhor teu Deus indroduzido na terra que jurou a teus paes, Abrahão, Isaac e Jacob, te daria: grandes e boas cidades, que tu não edificaste,

11E casas cheias de todo o bem, que tu não encheste, e poços cavados, que tu não cavaste, vinhas e olivaes, que tu não plantaste, e comeres, e te fartares,

12Guarda-te, e que te não esqueças do Senhor, que te tirou da terra do Egypto, da casa da servidão.

13O Senhor teu Deus temerás, e a elle servirás, e pelo seu nome jurarás.

14Não seguireis outros deuses, os deuses dos povos que houver á roda de vós;

15Porque o Senhor vosso Deus é um Deus zeloso no meio de ti, para que a ira do Senhor teu Deus se não accenda contra ti, e te destrua de sobre a face da terra.

16Não tentareis o Senhor vosso Deus, como o tentaste em Massah.

17Diligentemente guardareis os mandamentos do Senhor vosso Deus; como tambem os seus testemunhos, e seus estatutos, que te tem mandado.

18E farás o recto e o bom aos olhos do Senhor: para que bem te succeda, e entres, e possuas a boa terra, sobre a qual o Senhor jurou a teus paes.

19Para que lance fóra a todos os teus inimigos de diante de ti, como o Senhor tem dito.

20Quando teu filho te perguntar pelo tempo adiante, dizendo: Quaes são os testemunhos, e estatutos e juizos que o Senhor nosso Deus vos ordenou?

21Então dirás a teu filho: Eramos servos de Pharaó no Egypto; porém o Senhor nos tirou com mão forte do Egypto;

22E o Senhor deu signaes grandes, e nocivas maravilhas no Egypto, a Pharaó e a toda a sua casa, aos nossos olhos;

23E d'ali nos tirou, para nos levar, e nos dar a terra que jurára a nossos paes.

24E o Senhor nos ordenou que fizessemos todos estes estatutos, para temer ao Senhor nosso Deus, para o nosso perpetuo bem, para nos guardar em vida, como no dia d'hoje.

25E será para nós justiça, quando tivermos cuidado de fazer todos estes mandamentos perante o Senhor nosso Deus, como nos tem ordenado.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Moses presents the Shema ('Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord'), the central command to love God with all one's heart, soul, and strength, and instructs that these words be diligently taught to one's children at every moment of daily life.

Explanation

The Shema became, historically, the most fundamental declaration of faith in Judaism, recited daily to this day, summing up all of Israel's theology in one simple statement: there is one God, and he demands total, not partial, devotion. The instruction to teach these words 'when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up' shows that biblical faith was never meant to be an isolated compartment of formal religious life, but something woven into every moment of everyday family life. Jesus quotes this commandment as the greatest of all (Mark 12:29-30), confirming its permanent centrality. The application for today: passing on faith to the next generation happens more through natural, everyday conversations than through formal moments of religious instruction alone.

Fun facts

  • The Shema is traditionally the last sentence a practicing Jew seeks to utter before death, and the first prayer a Jewish child learns, showing its unique place as a spiritual anchor from the beginning to the end of life.
  • The instructions to bind the words 'upon thine hand' and as 'frontlets between thine eyes' (v. 8) gave rise to the tefillin (phylacteries), small leather boxes containing passages from the Torah, still worn by Orthodox Jews during morning prayer.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Deuteronômio 6:1It introduces the block of laws that follows: commandments, statutes, and judgments the people were to practice as soon as they entered the promised land.
  2. Deuteronômio 6:2The stated goal of the law is the fear of God across generations — themselves, their children, their grandchildren — securing a long life.
  3. Deuteronômio 6:3Moses asks for full attention: keeping these laws is the way to prosper and grow in the land described as “the land that floweth with milk and honey.”
  4. Deuteronômio 6:4This is the Shema, the most repeated statement of the Jewish faith: it affirms that there is one LORD, not several regional gods as the neighboring peoples believed, and it calls for total love — heart, soul, and strength — as the response to that oneness.
  5. Deuteronômio 6:5This is the second half of the Shema: after affirming that there is one God, comes the command to love Him with everything — heart, soul, and strength, without reservation.
  6. Deuteronômio 6:6Right after the Shema comes the core requirement: these words are not meant to stay only in the head, they must be engraved on the heart.
  7. Deuteronômio 6:7The instruction to bind the words of the law on the hand and use them as a sign between the eyes gave rise, centuries later, to the Jewish custom of tefillin, small boxes with passages of the law tied to the arm and the forehead during prayer. In the original text it is more likely an image of constant remembrance than a literal command.
  8. Deuteronômio 6:8The instruction to bind the words as a sign on the hand and on the forehead gave rise, centuries later, to the Jewish custom of tefillin worn in prayer.
  9. Deuteronômio 6:9It also commands writing the law on the doorposts and gates of the house — a physical way of keeping the memory always visible in daily life.
  10. Deuteronômio 6:10It looks ahead to arriving in a land already made ready: great, good cities the people would not need to build from scratch.
  11. Deuteronômio 6:11It completes the list of ready-made blessings: houses full of goods, wells already dug, vineyards and olive groves already planted — all inherited, not earned by their own effort.
  12. Deuteronômio 6:12Precisely because everything comes ready-made, the warning follows: be careful not to forget that it was God who brought the people out of slavery in Egypt.
  13. Deuteronômio 6:13The response to so much blessing should be fear, service, and loyalty to God, including in oaths made in His name.
  14. Deuteronômio 6:14It reinforces the ban on following the gods of the neighboring peoples who would surround Israel in the new land.
  15. Deuteronômio 6:15The reason repeated is God’s jealousy: unfaithfulness on this point would kindle an anger capable of destroying the people out of their own land.
  16. Deuteronômio 6:16Massah was where the people doubted whether God was really with them and demanded proof, an episode told in Exodus 17. The warning here is against repeating that kind of test: demanding extra proof from God after He has already shown He keeps His promises.
  17. Deuteronômio 6:17It calls for active diligence in keeping commandments, testimonies, and statutes — knowing is not enough, they must be carefully practiced.
  18. Deuteronômio 6:18Doing what is right and good in God’s eyes is presented as the practical key to prospering and taking possession of the promised land.
  19. Deuteronômio 6:19The reward for that obedience would be the driving out of the enemies from before the people, just as God had already promised.
  20. Deuteronômio 6:20It looks ahead to a future scene: a son asking the reason for all the laws and rules the family follows.
  21. Deuteronômio 6:21The suggested answer begins by telling their own story: we were slaves of Pharaoh, and the LORD brought us out of there with a strong hand.
  22. Deuteronômio 6:22It continues the summary to teach the children: the signs and the terrible plagues God brought against Pharaoh and all of Egypt, seen with their own eyes.
  23. Deuteronômio 6:23It closes the historical reminder: God brought the people out of Egypt precisely to give them the land promised to their ancestors.
  24. Deuteronômio 6:24The final explanation for the son is that keeping these laws is for the people’s own good, securing life and ongoing protection.
  25. Deuteronômio 6:25It ends with an important idea: carrying out the commandments before God would be counted as righteousness for the people.

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