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Deuteronomy 6:4-9
New Catholic Bible
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
New Catholic Bible
The Law of Love.[a] 4 Hear, O Israel, the Lord, our God, is Lord alone. 5 You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 6 You shall keep these things that I command you today in your heart. 7 Teach them to your children. You shall talk of them when you are sitting in your home, and when you are walking along the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 [b]Bind them as a reminder upon your hand, and wear them as a pendant between your eyes 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and your gates.
Loyalty to the Lord. Read full chapterFootnotes
- Deuteronomy 6:4 A classic passage that to this very day has been the prayer of Jews (the Shema) and their creed. It is a profession of faith in only one God, a faith that lays claim to the whole of the human person. Jesus will say: “The first is. . . . There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mk 12:28-31 and parallels).
- Deuteronomy 6:8 These verses, like the preceding, are meant metaphorically (see Ex 13:9, 16); they were later interpreted literally. Verses 4-9 were written on parchment, placed in a wooden or metal box, and attached to the forehead and the back of the hands (phylacteries: see Mt 23:5). They were also attached to the doorposts at a man’s height.
