The Great Commandment

6 “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that the Lord your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, ² so that you and your children and your children’s children may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long.^{(A) 3} Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.^(B)

⁴ “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.^{[a](C) 5} You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.^{(D) 6} Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. ⁷ Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.^{(E) 8} Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem^[b] on your forehead,^{(F) 9} and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.^(G)

Do Not Rob God

⁸ Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you say, “How are we robbing you?” In your tithes and offerings!^{(A) 9} You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me—the whole nation of you! ¹⁰ Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.^{(B) 11} I will rebuke the locust^[a] for you, so that it will not destroy the produce of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not be barren, says the Lord of hosts. ¹² Then all nations will count you happy, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

The First Commandment

²⁸ One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?”^{(A) 29} Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one;^{(B) 30} you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”^{(C) 32} Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’;^{(D) 33} and ‘to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”^{(E) 34} When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question.^(F)