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Deuteronomy 6

KJV · Chapter 6/34

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.

📖 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. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 6:2The stated goal of the law is the fear of God across generations — themselves, their children, their grandchildren — securing a long life.
  3. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 6:13The response to so much blessing should be fear, service, and loyalty to God, including in oaths made in His name.
  14. Deuteronomy 6:14It reinforces the ban on following the gods of the neighboring peoples who would surround Israel in the new land.
  15. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 6:17It calls for active diligence in keeping commandments, testimonies, and statutes — knowing is not enough, they must be carefully practiced.
  18. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 6:20It looks ahead to a future scene: a son asking the reason for all the laws and rules the family follows.
  21. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 6:23It closes the historical reminder: God brought the people out of Egypt precisely to give them the land promised to their ancestors.
  24. Deuteronomy 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. Deuteronomy 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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