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Deuteronomy 6 Bible study: Hear, Israel
Asked for the greatest commandment, Jesus, as Mark tells it, began where Moses did: "Hear, Israel" (Mark 12:29), then love with all your heart, soul and might (6:4-5). Moses warns that the danger comes when Israel is full (6:11-12), and when a son asks what the laws mean, the answer is a story: "We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt" (6:21).
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“Hear, Israel: The LORD is our God. The LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.”
Try it · Did you catch it?
“In Deuteronomy 6, when a son asks what the laws mean, the answer he is given begins, "We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt."”
Is that in Deuteronomy 6, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
You, your son, and your son's son
The chapter opens with why the commandments were given: "that you might do them in the land that you go over to possess" (6:1), and "that you might fear the LORD your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you—you, your son, and your son’s son, all the days of your life" (6:2). Three generations in one verse. Straight after "Hear, Israel" and the command to love (6:4-5) comes the handing on: "These words, which I command you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children" (6:6-7). And the chapter ends with the next generation asking: "When your son asks you in time to come" (6:20). Moses had said it two chapters before: "make them known to your children and your children’s children" (4:9).
Where it leads to Jesus
The first commandment
Deuteronomy 6:4leads toMark 12:29-30
"Hear, Israel: The LORD is our God. The LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might" (6:4-5). When a scribe asked Jesus, "Which commandment is the greatest of all?" (Mark 12:28), Jesus answered with these verses: "The greatest is: ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment" (Mark 12:29-30). The WEB words them differently: Mark has "the Lord our God, the Lord is one" where Deuteronomy has "The LORD is our God. The LORD is one", his words add "with all your mind", and Mark has "strength" where Deuteronomy has "might".
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Deuteronomy 6
That was a taste
The rest of Deuteronomy 6 is waiting in Favor
- Heart, soul and might
- Houses you didn't fill
- The answer is a story
- "As you tempted him in Massah"
- "It shall be righteousness to us"
- 10 questions as you read
- 12 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Deuteronomy 6 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
שָׁמַעshamasay sha-MA
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "hear". Strong's: "to hear intelligently", and among the ways it is translated, "(be) obedient, obey". Moses says it twice in two verses: "Hear therefore, Israel, and observe to do it" (6:3), and "Hear, Israel: The LORD is our God. The LORD is one" (6:4). In 6:3 hearing goes straight on to doing. In the WEB's Old Testament, "Hear, Israel" comes only in Deuteronomy: here and in 5:1, 9:1 and 20:3, each time with this verb. When a scribe asked Jesus for the greatest commandment, the commandment he gave began with "Hear, Israel" (Mark 12:29).
For your group
Deuteronomy 6 Bible study questions
- 1Moses pictured God's words talked about "when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up" (6:7). What would that look like on one ordinary day of your week?
- 2Moses warned that the danger comes after "you shall eat and be full" (6:11-12). When have good times made it easier for you to forget God? What helps you remember?
- 3When a son asks what it all means, the answer is a story: "We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand" (6:21). If someone asked you why you follow Jesus, what part of your own story would you tell?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Deuteronomy 6 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home