📜WEB · Deuteronomy 6:4
What does Deuteronomy 6:4 mean?
"Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one."
— Deuteronomy 6:4 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Yahweh your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you go over to possess it;
that you might fear Yahweh your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you; you, and your son, and your son’s son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged.
Hear therefore, Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with you, and that you may increase mightily, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised to you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one.
You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.
These words, which I command you today, shall be on your heart;
and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.
Explanation
# Deuteronomy 6:4
This verse, known in Jewish tradition as the Shema (from the Hebrew word for "hear"), is one of the most foundational statements in the entire Bible. In plain language, it declares two things: first, that Yahweh—the covenant name of God revealed to Israel—is their God, meaning he alone is the one to whom they owe worship and allegiance. Second, it declares that Yahweh is one, affirming his absolute unity and uniqueness. This is not merely a statement about numerical singularity but about God's undivided, singular nature in contrast to the fragmented, multiple deities of the surrounding nations.
The context is essential to understanding its force. Moses spoke these words to the Israelites as they stood on the edge of the Promised Land, about to enter a region saturated with polytheism. The nations surrounding Israel worshiped many gods—gods of storm, fertility, war, and harvest—each with limited domains and often competing with one another. Against this backdrop, Moses calls Israel to "hear," a term in Hebrew that implies not just auditory perception but attentive obedience. This declaration comes within Moses' broader address in Deuteronomy, which restates and reinforces the covenant given at Sinai, urging the new generation to remain faithful once they possess the land.
Theologically, this verse establishes the bedrock of biblical monotheism. Unlike the fractured spiritual landscape of the ancient Near East, Israel's God is not one deity among many, nor a being divided in his purposes or character
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