Deuteronomy 6
About DeuteronomyWritten by AI
Deuteronomy is mostly a set of farewell speeches. Moses stands with Israel on the plains of Moab, across the Jordan from the promised land, near the end of his life. He retells their story since Sinai, repeats and applies God's law for life in the land, and calls the new generation to renew the covenant. The book has long been credited to Moses, with the account of his death added by another hand. Many scholars think it reached its final form centuries later. Christians hold both views.
At its heart is a call to love God with everything: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One.” Again and again Moses says remember, do not forget, and choose life.
Watch for God's care for the poor, the widow, the orphan and the foreigner, and for warnings that Israel will fail and promises that God will not. Jesus quoted Deuteronomy more than almost any other book.
Before you read Deuteronomy 6Written by AI
One of the most important chapters in the Old Testament. It begins with the Shema, Israel's confession that the LORD is one, and the command to love Him with all your heart, soul and strength. Jesus called this the greatest commandment. Parents are to talk about God's words at home, on the road, morning and night.
The Greatest Commandment
These are the commandments and statutes and ordinances that the LORD your God has instructed me to teach you to follow in the land that you are about to enter and possess, so that you and your children and grandchildren may fear the LORD your God all the days of your lives by keeping all His statutes and commandments that I give you, and so that your days may be prolonged. Hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe them, so that you may prosper and multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you.
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
These words I am commanding you today are to be upon your hearts. And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.
And when the LORD your God brings you into the land He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He would give you—a land with great and splendid cities that you did not build, with houses full of every good thing with which you did not fill them, with wells that you did not dig, and with vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant—and when you eat and are satisfied, be careful not to forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Fear the LORD your God, serve Him only, and take your oaths in His name. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you. For the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God. Otherwise the anger of the LORD your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.
Do not test the LORD your God as you tested Him at Massah. You are to diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God and the testimonies and statutes He has given you. Do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, so that it may be well with you and that you may enter and possess the good land that the LORD your God swore to give your fathers, driving out all your enemies before you, as the LORD has said.
Teach Your Children
In the future, when your son asks, “What is the meaning of the decrees and statutes and ordinances that the LORD our God has commanded you?” then you are to tell him, “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Before our eyes the LORD inflicted great and devastating signs and wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his household. But He brought us out from there to lead us in and give us the land that He had sworn to our fathers.
And the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes and to fear the LORD our God, that we may always be prosperous and preserved, as we are to this day. And if we are careful to observe every one of these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us, then that will be our righteousness.”