UNROLL
The open doorway of a small stone house at first light, a man's sandals and a child's small sandals side by side on the threshold, terraced hills beyond.

The Book of

Deuteronomy 6

The heart of the covenant in two verses: the LORD is One; love Him with everything. Then take it home.

25 verses≈ 5 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

  1. 1–4Remember the wayFrom Horeb to Moab
  2. 5–11Love the LORDThe heart of the covenantChapter 6
  3. 12–26Laws for the landWorship, justice, neighbor
  4. 27–30Blessing and curseChoose life
  5. 31–34Moses' farewellA song, a blessing, a death

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.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

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.

Deuteronomy 6:4–5

Heart, home, gate

The LORD is One6:4 · one God, notmanyLove Him withall6:5 · heart, soul,strengthOn your heart6:6 · the word insideHome and road6:7 · taught to yourchildrenHands andforeheads6:8 · what you do andthinkDoorposts andgates6:9 · house and town

Whiteboard

It starts with who God is: “The LORD our God, the LORD is One.” Because He is one, He gets all of you: “you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Then the word moves outward. First it is “upon your hearts,” then in the talk of the house and the road, on the hands that work and the mind that plans, and at last on the doorposts and the gates, where the whole town comes and goes.

Reflect

Where do His words live?

Moses pictured God’s words in every part of a day: “when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Think through yesterday. Where were His words: in your heart, at your table, on the road, at your door? Where were they missing? Write down one place you want them to live this week.

Evening in the hill country: old olive trees and terraced vineyards heavy with grapes, a stone-lined well with a rope and jar, and a small walled town on the ridge beyond.

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.

0:30

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

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.

Question

Quick question

Moses warned the new generation not to repeat what their parents had done at one place in the wilderness.

Where had Israel tested the LORD?

Teach Your Children

Your son

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?”

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.

Evening at the door of a hill-country house: a small boy looks up with a question, his father crouched to his height to answer, a clay lamp burning on the step, the mother listening inside.

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.”

Pray

Tell the story

When the child asks what God’s commands mean, the answer begins with a rescue: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.” Thank God for the rescue He has given you in Jesus. Then pray for one child or young believer you know by name, and ask for the words and the chance to tell them what He has done.

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Deuteronomy 6

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A verse to carry with 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.

Deuteronomy 6:4–5

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